Heart Transplant Denial Rates: Understanding the Statistics

According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), the national system that manages organ transplantation in the United States, the organ with the highest percentage of transplantation denials is the heart. In the period between 2000 to 2019, of the 193974 patients whose names were recorded on the waiting list for heart transplant, 11.31% (21825) were denied transplantation of the organ after being listed. The next most frequently denied organ is the liver, with a denial rate of 9.60% (14385 patients) between 2011 and 2019, of the 149834 patients listed.

Overall, the OPTN reports that over the last 2 decades, denial rates have been declining for organs such as heart and kidney.