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ABSTRACT: Background
Many pediatric heart transplant (HT) recipients reach adulthood and may be interested in family planning; there is little data regarding safety of pregnancy post HT and clinicians' opinions differ. Pediatric HT clinicians are instrumental in early counseling. Thus, a better understanding of pediatric HT clinicians' practices regarding family planning and how well aligned these practices are with adult transplant centers is essential.Methods
We conducted a confidential, web-based survey of pediatric HT clinicians in fall 2021. We summarized and compared answers using Fisher's exact test.Results
The survey was sent to 53 United States-based HT directors and to the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation and Pediatric Heart Transplant Society list serves. There were 69 respondents. The majority (77%) of respondents felt pregnancy was feasible in selected or all female HT recipients. Ten respondents reported that their institution had an established policy regarding pregnancy post HT. A majority (77%) of HT clinicians would either use a shared care model or recommend transition to their adult institution if pregnancy occurred, though 74% of respondents were either unaware of their corresponding adult institution's policy (62%) or had a counterpart adult program with a policy against pregnancy post HT (12%).Conclusions
While many clinicians feel pregnancy is feasible in pediatric HT recipients, there remains significant practice variation. Few pediatric programs have a policy regarding pregnancy post HT. Future efforts to provide consistent messaging between adult and pediatric HT programs regarding the feasibility and care of post HT pregnancy are warranted.
SUBMITTER: Collins MM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC10567538 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Collins Megan M MM Ou Zhining Z Millar Morgan M MM Kittleson Michelle M MM May Lindsay J LJ Ploutz Michelle S MS Molina Kimberly M KM Hayes Katherine G KG Lal Ashwin K AK
The Journal of heart and lung transplantation : the official publication of the International Society for Heart Transplantation 20220730 11
<h4>Background</h4>Many pediatric heart transplant (HT) recipients reach adulthood and may be interested in family planning; there is little data regarding safety of pregnancy post HT and clinicians' opinions differ. Pediatric HT clinicians are instrumental in early counseling. Thus, a better understanding of pediatric HT clinicians' practices regarding family planning and how well aligned these practices are with adult transplant centers is essential.<h4>Methods</h4>We conducted a confidential, ...[more]