Paediatric heart transplants--should we do them?

Heart transplantation continues to evoke considerable controversy. While they are performed in adults, in South Africa children are at present denied this therapeutic option despite a very encouraging global/average 5-year survival rate of 62%. Objections to transplantation are usually based on moral and economic imperatives. These arguments will be analysed and we will present the case for the introduction of a transplant programme designed to benefit children with incurable heart disease.