Worldwide thoracic organ transplantation: a report from the UNOS/ISHLT International Registry for Thoracic Organ Transplantation. 
Based on data reported to the UNOS/ISHLT International Registry for Thoracic Organ Transplantation, we showed that: 1.  The number of heart transplant operations performed in the United States has decreased by 164 procedures between 1998 (2,346) and 1999 (2,182).  The number of lung transplants increased by 13 in 1999 to 877.  2.  The most frequently reported indication for heart transplantation in the US is coronary artery disease (44.8%).  For other thoracic transplants, the most frequently reported indications include cystic fibrosis (35.5%) for double lung, emphysema/COPD (49.7%) for single lung and congenital heart disease (46.6%) for heart-lung.  The most frequently reported diagnoses for thoracic transplantation outside the US include cardiomyopathy (43.8%) for heart, cystic fibrosis (33.4%) for double-lung, emphysema/COPD (26.6%) for single-lung and primary pulmonary hypertension (24.8%) for heart-lung transplants.  3.  US heart transplant recipients are predominately male (76.7%), between 50 and 64 years of age (51.3%) and white (81.4%).  US lung transplant recipients are also predominately between 50 and 64 years of age (44.7%) and white (89.9%), but unlike heart recipients are more likely to be female (51.2%).  No meaningful variance from the US recipient demographic profile is noted for the non-US recipients during the same time period.  4.  Pediatric recipients (< 18 years of age) received 10.9% of the reported heart transplants and 6.2% of reported lung transplants.  5.  One-year survival for thoracic transplants performed in the US is 82.4% for heart, 74.1% for lung and 62.0% for heart-lung.  Five-year survival for US thoracic transplants is 66.8% for heart and 43.2% for lung.  6.  Long-term patient survival rates are: 22.5% at 17 years for heart, 20.8% at 10 years for lung and 24.3% at 13 years for heart-lung recipients.  7.  The most important risk factor for mortality of US heart recipients at one month, one year and conditionally at 5 years after transplantation was receipt of a previous heart transplant.  Significant short-term risk factors include donor age, recipient age and ischemic time.  Substantial long-term risk factors include older donor age, recipient age, recipient race and diagnosis.  8.  The factors having the most significant impact on lung mortality at all time points are related to either the patient's medical condition (e.g., in the ICU prior to transplant, requiring mechanical ventilation) or diagnosis.  9.  Mechanical ventilation, recipient race and recipient age have the largest impact on heart-lung mortality.  10.  For heart and lung recipients, the major cause of hospitalization during the first year after transplantation is infection alone.