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Current Technological Advancement and Future Directions in the Field of Heart Transplant Surgery

A special issue of Journal of Clinical Medicine (ISSN 2077-0383). This special issue belongs to the section "Cardiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2025) | Viewed by 433

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL 55905, USA
Interests: heart transplant; lung transplant; mechanical circulatory support; valvular and coronary artery disease

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Guest Editor
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, USA
Interests: cardiothoracic surgery, especially for esophageal cancer; lung cancer and mesothelioma; coronary artery bypass graft; radial artery harvest; cardiac tumors; minimally invasive surgery
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Heart transplantation is the gold standard for long-term survival in patients with end-stage heart failure. Since the era of heart transplantation was ushered by Christian Bernard in South Africa in 1967, the field has rapidly evolved. Before the introduction of the brain death concept by Harvard Medical School in 1968, Christian Bernard performed a series of heart transplants in the setting of donation after circulatory death. Innovative techniques and technological advances have been utilized to improve surgery outcomes and boost the pool of donor hearts, as well as to reduce the mortality of patients on transplant waiting lists.

In the last two decades, donation after circulatory death has re-emerged as a promising solution to organ shortage and helped to improve outcomes. Ex vivo heart perfusion technology and the thoracoabdominal normothermic regional perfusion technique have made heart recovery feasible and sustainable in the context of donation after circulatory death.

The goal of this Special Issue is to highlight and discuss these technological advancements and innovative techniques and potential future directions in the field of heart transplant surgery in depth.

Dr. Magdy M El-Sayed Ahmed
Dr. Mohamed Rahouma
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • heart transplantation
  • donation after circulatory death
  • ex vivo heart perfusion
  • thoracoabdominal normothermic regional perfusion
  • end-stage heart failure
  • heart recovery

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

17 pages, 1862 KiB  
Review
Prevalence, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Cardiac Tumors: A Narrative Review
by Mohamed Rahouma, Hosny Mohsen, Mahmoud Morsi, Sherif Khairallah, Lilian Azab, Maya Abdelhemid, Akshay Kumar and Magdy M. El-Sayed Ahmed
J. Clin. Med. 2025, 14(10), 3392; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm14103392 - 13 May 2025
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Abstract
Cardiac tumors, though rare, present significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenges due to their heterogeneous nature and anatomical complexity. This narrative review synthesizes current evidence on prevalence, diagnostic modalities, and management strategies for primary and metastatic cardiac tumors. Echocardiography, cardiac MRI, and CT remain [...] Read more.
Cardiac tumors, though rare, present significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenges due to their heterogeneous nature and anatomical complexity. This narrative review synthesizes current evidence on prevalence, diagnostic modalities, and management strategies for primary and metastatic cardiac tumors. Echocardiography, cardiac MRI, and CT remain cornerstone imaging tools for differentiating tumors from non-neoplastic masses, while advances in PET/CT and tissue characterization techniques refine staging and treatment planning. Surgical resection with clear margins (R0) is critical for resectable tumors, particularly benign myxomas, though malignant tumors like sarcomas require multimodal approaches combining surgery, radiotherapy, and systemic therapies. Emerging strategies such as heart autotransplantation and staged resections offer promise for complex cases, while oligometastatic disease management highlights the role of stereotactic radiotherapy and immunotherapy. Key challenges include standardizing resection margins, optimizing neoadjuvant therapies, and addressing high recurrence rates in malignancies. Future directions emphasize integrating AI-driven imaging analysis, molecular biomarkers, and genomic profiling to personalize therapies, alongside global registries to enhance data on rare tumors. Equitable access to advanced diagnostics and multidisciplinary collaboration are essential to improve outcomes. This review underscores the need for standardized guidelines, technological innovation, and patient-centered research to address gaps in cardiac oncology. Full article
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