Rationale and Process: International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation Guidelines for the Care of Cardiac Transplant Candidates—2006

Article Outline

• Task forces
• Classes of recommendation
• Level of evidence
• APPENDIX. 
  • I. Task Force Members
  • II. Editorial Oversight Committee Members
  • III. Conflict of Interest Disclosures
• Copyright

In April 2005, the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) board sanctioned the development of a comprehensive set of guidelines for the pre-transplant management of cardiac transplant candidates. This mandate resulted from the recognition that current guidelines were either too old, lacked detailed attention to the care of the cardiac transplant candidate, or were not broad enough to be applicable to the international community of cardiac transplant physicians and surgeons. To address these issues, three task forces were assembled.

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Task forces 

Each task force consisted of an international mix of members, charged by their respective group chairs to review and deliberate specific issues of importance to this population. A 1-day-long workshop format meeting was held in April 2005, during which the guidelines were debated and consensus achieved. A summary of the key highlighted recommendations that evolved from this meeting were presented at the closing plenary of the ISHLT meeting in 2005. The comprehensive guidelines were collated and edited to conform to a standard classification and strength of evidence.

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Classes of recommendation 

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Level of evidence 

Once completed, the entire document was rigorously reviewed by an independent international editorial committee (see Appendix) and changes made in accordance with the reviews. The editorial oversight committee composition was blinded to the task force chairs and members. The revised final document was subsequently submitted to the ISHLT board for review and approval.

It is our earnest hope that the rigor and multinational nature of this guidelines document will be of use to the clinician caring for the cardiac transplant candidate.

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APPENDIX. 

I. Task Force Members 

(a) Task Force I—Listing Criteria for Heart Transplantation: Mandeep R. Mehra—Chair (USA), Jon Kobashigawa (USA), Randall Starling (USA), Stuart Russell (USA), Patricia A. Uber (USA), Jayan Parameshwar (UK), Paul Mohacsi (Switzerland), Sharon Augustine (USA), Keith Aaronson (USA), Mark Barr (USA).

(b) Task Force II—Optimal Pharmacologic and Non-pharmacologic Management of Cardiac Transplant Candidates: Approaches to Be Considered Before Transplant Evaluation: Mariell Jessup—Chair (USA), Nicholas Banner (UK), Susan Brozena (USA), Carlo Campana (Italy), Angelika Costard-Jäckle (Germany), Thomas Dengler (Germany), Sharon Hunt (USA), Marco Metra (Italy), Axel Rahmel (Germany), Dale Renlund (USA), Heather Ross (Canada), Lynne Warner Stevenson (USA).

(c) Task Force III—Heart Rhythm Considerations in Heart Transplant Candidates and Considerations for Ventricular Assist Devices: Edoardo Gronda—Chair (Italy), Robert Bouge (USA), Maria Rosa Costanzo (USA), Mario Deng (USA), Donna Mancini (USA), Luigi Martinelli (Italy), Guillermo Torre-Amione (USA).

II. Editorial Oversight Committee Members 

Maria Rosa Costanzo—Chair (USA), Alessandro Barbone (Italy), Ugo Livi (Italy), Manfred Hummel (Germany), Daniela Pini (Italy), Salpy Pamboukian (USA), Maryl Johnson (USA), David Feldman (USA), David Taylor (USA).

III. Conflict of Interest Disclosures 

Each writing group member and editorial oversight committee member completed a disclosure form that is maintained on file at the ISHLT headquarters. The conflict of interest disclosures of the task force and editorial committee chairs are as follows: