2012 – the success-year of the 20 year-old Hungarian adult heart transplant program

The Hungarian adult heart transplant program, which started in 1992, has changed gradually in the past 20 years. After the early enthusiasm of the first cases it changed significantly and it became an organized programme. However, low donation activity and moderate referral numbers to the national transplant waiting list slowed down the process therefore, heart transplant numbers did not fulfill expectations in the early years. After a moderate increase in 2007 transplant numbers have dropped again until recently when Hungary partially joined Eurotransplant network. Excess fundamental resources allocated to cardiac transplantation by health care professionals and reorganizing transplant coordination as well as logistics forced dramatic changes in clinical management. In 2011 and 2012 major structural changes had been made at Semmelweis University. The newly established transplant intensive care unit and the initiation of mechanical circulatory support and assist device programme increased transplant numbers by 131% compared to previous years, as well as it resulted an 86.63% 30-day survival rate, hence last year was the most successful year of cardiac transplantation ever. Orv. Hetil., 2013, 154, 863–867.