Female donor hearts can improve survival for male pediatric heart transplant recipients.

When considered together, gender and DRWR pairings impact PTS in male-but not female-pediatric heart transplant recipients. For males receiving ideal-sized DRWR organs (most common pairing, >60%), male recipients achieve superior survival when female donor hearts are transplanted. These findings suggest that if weight is being used for size-matching, donor gender should also be considered, particularly for male recipients.