TORCH-LATAM-002: Regional Pathway for Adult Heart Transplant Evaluation and Candidacy

Overview

TORCH-LATAM-002 is a pragmatic stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial evaluating an integrated regional pathway for adults with advanced heart failure who require specialized heart transplant evaluation and a documented candidacy decision. Participating network clusters transition from usual local pathways to the TORCH Adult Heart Transplant Evaluation and Candidacy Pathway. The primary outcome is completion of multidisciplinary evaluation and a documented transplant-candidacy decision within 90 days after enrollment. The study also examines pathway activation, barriers, clinical outcomes, waiting-list trajectories, and traceable donor-organ opportunities. Enrollment does not constitute placement on an official waiting list, organ allocation, or authorization of cross-border care.

Each TORCH regional network cluster is anchored in an authorized transplant center and may include activated evaluation, referral, identification, donor-origin, procurement, preservation, logistics, and data-coordination nodes. Adults may be identified at transplanting or non-transplanting centers when an authorized route to specialized evaluation exists. The transplant center and competent authorities retain all legal and clinical authority for candidacy, waiting-list activation, organ acceptance, allocation, and transplantation. The recipient pathway records identification, referral, enrollment, completion of multidisciplinary evaluation, documented candidacy decision, barrier management, activation of an authorized pathway or official waiting list, clinical change while waiting, donor-recipient opportunity, transplantation, or an alternative outcome. Study enrollment is analytically distinct from transplant candidacy and official wait-list status. The donor-organ pathway records identification of a possible donor, confirmation of the applicable donation pathway, authorization, organ characterization, activation of an evaluable donor-organ opportunity, compatibility assessment, organ acceptance or rejection, procurement, preservation, transport, implantation, and final disposition. Donation after brain death and donation after circulatory determination of death are represented as distinct branches; normothermic regional perfusion is recorded only when applicable. The two pathways converge at a traceable donor-organ-recipient matching episode. A characterized organ may be assessed for more than one compatible recipient, and each offer, decision, reason for non-acceptance, reassignment, urgency change, distance, logistics constraint, and final disposition is time-stamped. TORCH does not create a supranational allocation authority and does not override governmental or institutional systems. Interoperability may range from audited manual transfer to structured documents, batch exchange, application programming interfaces, standards-based exchange, or validated remote-monitoring devices. Lack of an automated interface does not by itself exclude a site or participant when an authorized, secure, timely, and auditable fallback is available. Cross-border activity is activated only after applicable ethical, regulatory, institutional, data-protection, financial, and operational approvals.