1.The Korean Organ Transplant Registry (KOTRY): Third Official Adult Heart Transplant Report
Hyo-In CHOI ; Sang Eun LEE ; Junho HYUN ; Darae KIM ; Dong-Ju CHOI ; Eun-Seok JEON ; Hae-Young LEE ; Hyun-Jai CHO ; Hyungseop KIM ; In-Cheol KIM ; Jaewon OH ; Minjae YOON ; Jin Joo PARK ; Jin-Oh CHOI ; Min Ho JU ; Seok-Min KANG ; Soo Yong LEE ; Sung-Ho JUNG ; Jae-Joong KIM
Korean Circulation Journal 2025;55(2):79-96
Background and Objectives:
The Korean Organ Transplant Registry (KOTRY) provided data for this third official report on adult heart transplantation (HT), including information from 709 recipients.
Methods:
Data from HTs performed at seven major centers in Korea between March 2014 and December 2020 were analyzed, focusing on immunosuppression, acute rejection, cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV), post-transplant survival, and mechanical circulatory support (MCS) usage.
Results:
The median ages of the recipients and donors were 56.0 and 43.0 years, respectively.Cardiomyopathy and ischemic heart disease were the most common preceding conditions for HT. A significant portion of patients underwent HT at waiting list status 1 and 0. In the multivariate analysis, a predicted heart mass mismatch was associated with a higher risk of 1-year mortality. Patients over 70 years old had a significantly increased risk of 6-year mortality. The risk of CAV was higher for male donors and donors older than 45 years. Acute rejection was more likely in patients with panel reactive antibody levels above 80%, while statin use was associated with a reduced risk. The employment of left ventricular assist device as a bridge to transplantation increased from 2.17% to 22.4%. Pre-transplant extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation was associated with worse post-transplant survival.
Conclusions
In this third KOTRY report, we analyzed changes in the characteristics of adult HT recipients and donors and their impact on post-transplant outcomes. The most notable discovery was the increased use of MCS before HT and their impact on post-transplant outcomes.
2.Erratum: Correction of Text in the Article “The Long-term Outcomes and Risk Factors of Complications After Fontan Surgery: From the Korean Fontan Registry (KFR)”
Sang-Yun LEE ; Soo-Jin KIM ; Chang-Ha LEE ; Chun Soo PARK ; Eun Seok CHOI ; Hoon KO ; Hyo Soon AN ; I Seok KANG ; Ja Kyoung YOON ; Jae Suk BAEK ; Jae Young LEE ; Jinyoung SONG ; Joowon LEE ; June HUH ; Kyung-Jin AHN ; Se Yong JUNG ; Seul Gi CHA ; Yeo Hyang KIM ; Youngseok LEE ; Sanghoon CHO
Korean Circulation Journal 2025;55(3):256-257
3.Clinical Characteristics of Pediatric Chronic Rhinosinusitis: A Nationwide Retrospective Multicenter Study
Donghyeok KIM ; Gwanghui RYU ; Sang Duk HONG ; Shin Hyuk YOO ; Sue Jean MUN ; Eun Jung LEE ; Sung-Jae HEO ; Jin Hyeok JEONG ; Dae Woo KIM ; Hyung-Ju CHO ; Min-Seok RHA ; Yong Min KIM ; Ki-Il LEE ; Ji-Hun MO ;
Journal of Rhinology 2025;32(1):28-35
Background and Objectives:
Pediatric chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) significantly affects children’s quality of life and learning abilities. This study aimed to evaluate the postoperative outcomes in pediatric patients who underwent functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) for CRS.
Methods:
A retrospective review was conducted on pediatric patients who underwent FESS for CRS at 11 university hospitals. The inclusion criteria were patients under 20 years old with bilateral disease who were operated on between January 2005 and December 2021. The data collected included demographics, clinical history, blood tests, preoperative computed tomography, and preoperative and postoperative symptom control. The Kruskal-Wallis and Fisher exact tests were used to compare the quantitative and qualitative data, respectively.
Results:
In total, 213 patients were enrolled. The mean age was 13.4±3.0 years, and 145 (68.1%) were male. One hundred sixty-four patients (77.0%) had nasal polyps and 33 patients (15.5%) underwent revision FESS. The preoperative symptoms, in order of prevalence, included nasal obstruction (87.8%), rhinorrhea (71.8%), a sense of postnasal drip (58.2%), hyposmia (44.6%), cough (24.4%), and facial fullness (18.3%). These symptoms were significantly alleviated for up to 3 years after surgery (p<0.001). At the time of the last follow-up, 121 patients (56.8%) were controlled, 80 (37.6%) were partly controlled, and 12 (5.6%) were uncontrolled. Patients in the uncontrolled group had higher Lund-Mackay scores, longer follow-up durations, and more instances of revision surgery compared to those in the controlled and partly controlled groups. When age was categorized into three groups, those aged 16 years or older tended to have lower Lund-Mackay scores and better control.
Conclusion
FESS significantly improves both the postoperative symptoms and the long-term quality of life in pediatric CRS patients. Better symptom control is associated with older age and a lower disease burden.
4.The Korean Organ Transplant Registry (KOTRY): Third Official Adult Heart Transplant Report
Hyo-In CHOI ; Sang Eun LEE ; Junho HYUN ; Darae KIM ; Dong-Ju CHOI ; Eun-Seok JEON ; Hae-Young LEE ; Hyun-Jai CHO ; Hyungseop KIM ; In-Cheol KIM ; Jaewon OH ; Minjae YOON ; Jin Joo PARK ; Jin-Oh CHOI ; Min Ho JU ; Seok-Min KANG ; Soo Yong LEE ; Sung-Ho JUNG ; Jae-Joong KIM
Korean Circulation Journal 2025;55(2):79-96
Background and Objectives:
The Korean Organ Transplant Registry (KOTRY) provided data for this third official report on adult heart transplantation (HT), including information from 709 recipients.
Methods:
Data from HTs performed at seven major centers in Korea between March 2014 and December 2020 were analyzed, focusing on immunosuppression, acute rejection, cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV), post-transplant survival, and mechanical circulatory support (MCS) usage.
Results:
The median ages of the recipients and donors were 56.0 and 43.0 years, respectively.Cardiomyopathy and ischemic heart disease were the most common preceding conditions for HT. A significant portion of patients underwent HT at waiting list status 1 and 0. In the multivariate analysis, a predicted heart mass mismatch was associated with a higher risk of 1-year mortality. Patients over 70 years old had a significantly increased risk of 6-year mortality. The risk of CAV was higher for male donors and donors older than 45 years. Acute rejection was more likely in patients with panel reactive antibody levels above 80%, while statin use was associated with a reduced risk. The employment of left ventricular assist device as a bridge to transplantation increased from 2.17% to 22.4%. Pre-transplant extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation was associated with worse post-transplant survival.
Conclusions
In this third KOTRY report, we analyzed changes in the characteristics of adult HT recipients and donors and their impact on post-transplant outcomes. The most notable discovery was the increased use of MCS before HT and their impact on post-transplant outcomes.
5.Erratum: Correction of Text in the Article “The Long-term Outcomes and Risk Factors of Complications After Fontan Surgery: From the Korean Fontan Registry (KFR)”
Sang-Yun LEE ; Soo-Jin KIM ; Chang-Ha LEE ; Chun Soo PARK ; Eun Seok CHOI ; Hoon KO ; Hyo Soon AN ; I Seok KANG ; Ja Kyoung YOON ; Jae Suk BAEK ; Jae Young LEE ; Jinyoung SONG ; Joowon LEE ; June HUH ; Kyung-Jin AHN ; Se Yong JUNG ; Seul Gi CHA ; Yeo Hyang KIM ; Youngseok LEE ; Sanghoon CHO
Korean Circulation Journal 2025;55(3):256-257
6.Prognostic Value of Ambulatory Status at Transplant in Older Heart Transplant Recipients: Implications for Organ Allocation Policy
Junho HYUN ; Jong-Chan YOUN ; Jung Ae HONG ; Darae KIM ; Jae-Joong KIM ; Myoung Soo KIM ; Jaewon OH ; Jin-Jin KIM ; Mi-Hyang JUNG ; In-Cheol KIM ; Sang-Eun LEE ; Jin Joo PARK ; Min-Seok KIM ; Sung-Ho JUNG ; Hyun-Jai CHO ; Hae-Young LEE ; Seok-Min KANG ; Dong-Ju CHOI ; Jon A. KOBASHIGAWA ; Josef STEHLIK ; Jin-Oh CHOI
Journal of Korean Medical Science 2025;40(3):e14-
Background:
Shortage of organ donors in the Republic of Korea has become a major problem. To address this, it has been questioned whether heart transplant (HTx) allocation should be modified to reduce priority of older patients. We aimed to evaluate post-HTx outcomes according to recipient age and specific pre-HTx conditions using a nationwide prospective cohort.
Methods:
We analyzed clinical characteristics of 628 patients from the Korean Organ Transplant Registry who received HTx from January 2015 to December 2020. Enrolled recipients were divided into three groups according to age. We also included comorbidities including ambulatory status. Non-ambulatory status was defined as pre-HTx support with either extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, continuous renal replacement therapy, or mechanical ventilation.
Results:
Of the 628 patients, 195 were < 50 years, 322 were 50–64 years and 111 were ≥ 65years at transplant. Four hundred nine (65.1%) were ambulatory and 219 (34.9%) were nonambulatory. Older recipients tended to have more comorbidities, ischemic cardiomyopathy, and received older donors. Post-HTx survival was significantly lower in older recipients (P = 0.025) and recipients with non-ambulatory status (P < 0.001). However, in contrast to non-ambulatory recipients who showed significant survival differences according to the recipient’s age (P = 0.004), ambulatory recipients showed comparable outcomes (P = 0.465).
Conclusion
Our results do not support use of age alone as an allocation criterion. Transplant candidate age in combination with some comorbidities such as non-ambulatory status may identify patients at a sufficiently elevated risk at which suitability of HTx should be reconsidered.
7.A Genetically Confirmed Korean Case of CANVAS: Cerebellar Ataxia, Neuropathy, and Vestibular Areflexia Syndrome
Seung Hee LEE ; Hee-Jae JUNG ; Ji-Hee YOON ; Gu-Hwan KIM ; June-Young KOH ; Yuna LEE ; Young Seok JU ; Eun-Jae LEE ; Beom Hee LEE ; Young-Min LIM ; Hyunjin KIM
Journal of the Korean Neurological Association 2025;43(1):45-49
Cerebellar ataxia, neuropathy, and vestibular areflexia syndrome (CANVAS) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by a biallelic expansion of pentanucleotide repeats in the RFC1 gene. Previous studies have reported up to 22% of patients with late-onset ataxia harbor this pathogenic repeat expansion. Despite its relatively high prevalence, CANVAS is often underdiagnosed because the disease is not well recognized and genetic testing is not performed in clinical practice. Here, we present a patient with characteristic clinical features, confirmed by genetic testing.
8.The Korean Organ Transplant Registry (KOTRY): Third Official Adult Heart Transplant Report
Hyo-In CHOI ; Sang Eun LEE ; Junho HYUN ; Darae KIM ; Dong-Ju CHOI ; Eun-Seok JEON ; Hae-Young LEE ; Hyun-Jai CHO ; Hyungseop KIM ; In-Cheol KIM ; Jaewon OH ; Minjae YOON ; Jin Joo PARK ; Jin-Oh CHOI ; Min Ho JU ; Seok-Min KANG ; Soo Yong LEE ; Sung-Ho JUNG ; Jae-Joong KIM
Korean Circulation Journal 2025;55(2):79-96
Background and Objectives:
The Korean Organ Transplant Registry (KOTRY) provided data for this third official report on adult heart transplantation (HT), including information from 709 recipients.
Methods:
Data from HTs performed at seven major centers in Korea between March 2014 and December 2020 were analyzed, focusing on immunosuppression, acute rejection, cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV), post-transplant survival, and mechanical circulatory support (MCS) usage.
Results:
The median ages of the recipients and donors were 56.0 and 43.0 years, respectively.Cardiomyopathy and ischemic heart disease were the most common preceding conditions for HT. A significant portion of patients underwent HT at waiting list status 1 and 0. In the multivariate analysis, a predicted heart mass mismatch was associated with a higher risk of 1-year mortality. Patients over 70 years old had a significantly increased risk of 6-year mortality. The risk of CAV was higher for male donors and donors older than 45 years. Acute rejection was more likely in patients with panel reactive antibody levels above 80%, while statin use was associated with a reduced risk. The employment of left ventricular assist device as a bridge to transplantation increased from 2.17% to 22.4%. Pre-transplant extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation was associated with worse post-transplant survival.
Conclusions
In this third KOTRY report, we analyzed changes in the characteristics of adult HT recipients and donors and their impact on post-transplant outcomes. The most notable discovery was the increased use of MCS before HT and their impact on post-transplant outcomes.
9.Erratum: Correction of Text in the Article “The Long-term Outcomes and Risk Factors of Complications After Fontan Surgery: From the Korean Fontan Registry (KFR)”
Sang-Yun LEE ; Soo-Jin KIM ; Chang-Ha LEE ; Chun Soo PARK ; Eun Seok CHOI ; Hoon KO ; Hyo Soon AN ; I Seok KANG ; Ja Kyoung YOON ; Jae Suk BAEK ; Jae Young LEE ; Jinyoung SONG ; Joowon LEE ; June HUH ; Kyung-Jin AHN ; Se Yong JUNG ; Seul Gi CHA ; Yeo Hyang KIM ; Youngseok LEE ; Sanghoon CHO
Korean Circulation Journal 2025;55(3):256-257
10.Plasma metabolite based clustering of breast cancer survivors and identification of dietary and health related characteristics: an application of unsupervised machine learning
Ga-Eun YIE ; Woojin KYEONG ; Sihan SONG ; Zisun KIM ; Hyun Jo YOUN ; Jihyoung CHO ; Jun Won MIN ; Yoo Seok KIM ; Jung Eun LEE
Nutrition Research and Practice 2025;19(2):273-291
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES:
This study aimed to use plasma metabolites to identify clusters of breast cancer survivors and to compare their dietary characteristics and health-related factors across the clusters using unsupervised machine learning.
SUBJECTS/METHODS:
A total of 419 breast cancer survivors were included in this crosssectional study. We considered 30 plasma metabolites, quantified by high-throughput nuclear magnetic resonance metabolomics. Clusters were obtained based on metabolites using 4 different unsupervised clustering methods: k-means (KM), partitioning around medoids (PAM), self-organizing maps (SOM), and hierarchical agglomerative clustering (HAC). The t-test, χ2 test, and Fisher’s exact test were used to compare sociodemographic, lifestyle, clinical, and dietary characteristics across the clusters. P-values were adjusted through a false discovery rate (FDR).
RESULTS:
Two clusters were identified using the 4 methods. Participants in cluster 2 had lower concentrations of apolipoprotein A1 and large high-density lipoprotein (HDL) particles and smaller HDL particle sizes, but higher concentrations of chylomicrons and extremely large very-low-density-lipoprotein (VLDL) particles and glycoprotein acetyls, a higher ratio of monounsaturated fatty acids to total fatty acids, and larger VLDL particle sizes compared with cluster 1. Body mass index was significantly higher in cluster 2 compared with cluster 1 (FDR adjusted-PKM < 0.001; PPAM = 0.001; PSOM < 0.001; and PHAC = 0.043).
CONCLUSION
The breast cancer survivors clustered on the basis of plasma metabolites had distinct characteristics. Further prospective studies are needed to investigate the associations between metabolites, obesity, dietary factors, and breast cancer prognosis.

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