Clinical Guide to Heart Transplantation

This is a concise review of up-to-date concepts and techniques in the discipline of heart transplantation. It is a review and reference for practitioners managing patients with advanced heart disease, including patients with end-stage heart failure, mechanical circulatory support or transplant recipients. Heart failure is a major public health issue, with a prevalence of over 5.8 million in the USA, and over 23 million worldwide, and rising. The lifetime risk of developing heart failure is one in five. Heart failure carries substantial morbidity and mortality, with 5-year mortality that rival those of many cancers. As heart transplantation remains the best treatment option for patients with end stage heart failure, this primer will provide valuable information and management strategies for physicians caring for these patients. Also, due to continued shortage in donor organs, heart transplantation is a limited resource – which further underscores the importance of appropriately evaluating patients for transplant candidacy and managing their pre, peri- and post-transplant care for maximum benefit and best outcomes.?

Jon Kobashigawa, MD, is the DSL/Thomas D. Gordon professor of Medicine, director of the Advanced Heart Disease Section, director of the Heart Transplant Program and the associate director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute as well as the associate director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

He received his undergraduate degree at Stanford University and earned his medical degree at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. He is a past president of the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation, past chair of the American College of Cardiology Committee on Heart Failure and Transplantation, and past member of the United Network of Organ Sharing National Thoracic Committee.

Dr. Kobashigawa is recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in heart transplantation. He has published more than 300 peer-reviewed articles, chapters and monographs in the field of heart failure and transplantation and has chaired several multicenter clinical studies. Dr. Kobashigawa has organized and chaired several International Consensus Conferences to discuss pertinent questions regarding heart failure and heart transplant. He lectures at universities around the world and has mentored several young physicians who have ascended to important academic positions throughout the country.