2012 Volume 76 Issue 3 Pages 752-754
Background: Since the revision of the Japanese Organ Transplantation Act, children younger than 15 years old can donate their organs after brain death. Methods and Results: A teenage boy with endstage restrictive cardiomyopathy underwent the first heart transplantation with a pediatric donor heart in Japan on April 12, 2011. He had a good postoperative clinical course and no histological rejection episodes. His waiting period was relatively short (237 days) compared with adult patients, because of the pediatric patient-first policy for a pediatric donor heart. Conclusions: To increase pediatric heart transplantation in Japan, further enlightenment of the general population about pediatric organ donation is desirable. (Circ J 2012; 76: 752-754)
