11.10.2008 at 08:02
- Category:
Health News Today
Fifteen heart transplants have been performed at the hospital this year |
Heart transplants at a London hospital are being reviewed after four people died within a month of their operations.
They died after four consecutive transplants between July and September at Harefield Hospital, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust said.
An independent surgeon and cardiologist will review the north-west London hospital's transplant programme.
The trust welcomed the review after "a small increase in mortality rates".
Fifteen heart transplant operations have been performed at the hospital so far this year.
Four patients died within 30 days of their transplant, two died within 90 days and one died more than 90 days after the operation.
Last year 24 heart transplant operations were performed at the hospital, with no deaths reported within 30 days.
A spokeswoman for the trust said it noticed "a small increase in mortality rates within 30 days of heart transplant surgery and, specifically, that the small number of deaths had occurred consecutively".
| Heart transplantation is an incredibly complex field of medicine and a high-risk procedure
Professor Timothy Evans, trust medical director |
The four unsuccessful operations were carried out by three different surgeons.
One heart transplant has since been carried out at the hospital without mishap, the spokeswoman said.
The surgeon and cardiologist undertaking the review will be agreed by the trust, the National Specialised Commissioning Team and health watchdog the Healthcare Commission.
Trust medical director Professor Timothy Evans said: "Heart transplantation is an incredibly complex field of medicine and a high-risk procedure.
"We are keen to be informed by the conclusions of the review and we will work hard to implement any recommendations which might emerge."
The trust said it would consult with the reviewers before undertaking any heart transplants during the course of the review.
Last year an inquiry was held at Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire after seven of its 20 adult heart transplant patients died within 30 days.
It concluded that the quality of care was good and there were no common factors to explain the rise in the number of deaths.
However, the Papworth Hospital inquiry noted that the number of cardiac transplants performed in the UK fell in recent years because of "a reduction in the number of young, fit donors".
As a result transplant centres in the UK relaxed criteria for accepting hearts for transplant, investigators found, and they are now "using hearts which may not have previously been considered acceptable".
The review is to be completed this month.
