Outcome in cardiac recipients of donor hearts with increased left ventricular wall thickness

The ongoing shortage of donors for cardiac transplantation has led to a trend toward acceptance of donor hearts with some structural abnormalities including left ventricular hypertrophy. To evaluate the outcome in recipients of donor hearts with increased left ventricular wall thickness (LVWT), we retrospectively analyzed data for 157 cardiac donors and respective recipients from January 2001 to December 2004. There were 47 recipients of donor heart with increased LVWT >or=1.2 cm, which constituted the study group and 110 recipients of a donor heart with normal LVWT < 1.2 cm that formed the control group. At 3 +/- 1.5 years, recipient survival was lower (50% vs. 82%, p = 0.0053) and incidence of allograft vasculopathy was higher (50% vs. 22%, p = 0.05) in recipients of donor heart with LVWT > 1.4 cm as compared to LVWT <or= 1.4 cm. By Cox regression, donor LVWT > 1.4 cm (p = 0.003), recipient preoperative ventricular assist device (VAD) support (p = 0.04) and bypass time > 150 min (p = 0.05) were predictors of reduced survival. Our results suggest careful consideration of donor hearts with echocardiographic evidence of increased LVWT in the absence of hypovolemia, because they may be associated with poorer outcomes; such hearts should potentially be reserved only for the most desperately ill recipients.

Pericardial tamponade

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Atrial arrhythmias in adults after repair of tetralogy of Fallot. Correlations with clinical, exercise, and echocardiographic findings

BACKGROUND

The long-term success of intracardiac repair of tetralogy of Fallot is hampered by the occurrence of arrhythmias. Numerous studies have stressed the potential role of ventricular arrhythmias. However, the importance of other arrhythmias in the morbidity of these patients appears to be underestimated. Furthermore, most follow-up studies have been limited to children or adolescents, whereas many patients have reached adulthood after earlier repair of tetralogy of Fallot. The aim of the present study was to determine the incidence of atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, and other supraventricular arrhythmias in adult patients after intracardiac repair for tetralogy of Fallot and their correlation with surgical and clinical findings.

METHODS AND RESULTS

The study group consisted of 53 consecutive patients referred to the Thoraxcenter adult congenital heart disease clinic. They underwent repair at a mean age of 9.1 years (range, 0.7 to 55 years). The median age at the time of study was 23.2 years (range, 15 to 57 years; mean age, 26.6 years), and the mean duration of follow-up of 17.5 years (range, 1.4 to 32 years) after surgery. Records were reviewed extensively for evidence of arrhythmias. The follow-up study included routine 12-lead ECG, 24-hour continuous ambulatory monitoring, and echocardiography, and 46 patients underwent exercise testing. Sinus node dysfunction was recorded in 19 patients (36%), of whom 4 required a permanent pacemaker. Atrial fibrillation or flutter was found in 12 patients, and other supraventricular tachycardias were found in 6. The former were more frequently of older age at follow-up. Antiarrhythmic therapy and cardioversion were typically directed at control of atrial (and not ventricular) tachyarrhythmias. Ten patients (19%) showed nonsustained ventricular tachycardia; they were older at initial surgery and older at follow-up and had more intracardiac repairs and longer cardiopulmonary bypass times.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite an emphasis on ventricular ectopy in past series, the main sources of morbidity in adult patients after surgical correction of tetralogy of Fallot emanated from atrial arrhythmias, which were present in one third of the patients.

[Cyclosporin in heart transplantations. The authors' personal experience]

The discovery of cyclosporine A (CsA) was a major development in the evolution of organ transplantation. In renal transplantation use of CsA improved graft survival such that HLA-matching is no longer as important and determinant as before. Liver transplantation prior to the arrival of CsA was almost abandoned by Starzl because of uncontrollable rejection. Hearth transplantation, after initial enthusiasm, was soon restricted to few centers as the difficulties in caring for these patients became apparent. Availability of CsA allowed more than 2500 hearth transplants to be performed annually today. At Stanford initially cardiac transplant survival at one year was 40% and at 5 years was approx 20%. The best results in patients treated with azathioprine-prednisone, just prior to the introduction of cyclosporine, were 65% and 40%. At present survival is 83% at 1 year and 50% at 6-7 years, as in other active centers around the world. CsA is the first drug specifically developed to target immunocompetent T-lymphocytes, and is the gold standard model for other new drugs. Its action is modification of rejection, so that when it occurs it is less acute in onset and less fulminant. The prevalence and mortality of infections have also been reduced. The major drawback of cyclosporine is nephrotoxicity: all patients undergo a progressive decline in creatinine clearance and within one year 90% have hypertension. A second problem is post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease, that takes the form of an aggressive and potentially lethal B-cell lymphoma appearing most commonly within one year from surgery.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Cardiac transplantation: a review for the intensivists

Cardiac transplantation has now become accepted therapy for the treatment of end-stage heart disease in both children and adults, and literally thousands of patients are bearers of cardiac grafts. Because of these patients' susceptibility to infections, rejection, coronary disease, and malignancy, as well as to serious illnesses unrelated to their transplantation, they will often be encountered at hospital centers both close to their homes and distant from the site of their surgery. The intensive care unit physician's role will be a demanding one when caring for these patients because of the broad differential diagnosis of infections, frequency of drug interactions and altered immunosuppression, and continuous uncertainty regarding the possibility of rejection, particularly during the first year after transplantation.

Chronic injury of human renal microvessels with low-dose cyclosporine therapy

Physiologic and morphologic techniques were used to study kidneys of cardiac transplant recipients treated with either low-dose (low-CsA) or high-dose (high-CsA) cyclosporine. After 12 months both low-CsA (4.6 +/- 0.4) and high-CsA (6.3 +/- 0.3 mg/Kg/24 hr, p less than 0.01) were associated with azotemia and hypertension; GFR with each regimen was depressed below values in a third group treated without CsA (no-CsA) by 40-47%, while corresponding renal vascular resistance was elevated greater than 2-fold (P less than 0.01). Morphologic changes in both CsA groups included an obliterative arteriolopathy with downstream collapse or sclerosis of glomeruli. Determination of renal arcuate vein occlusion pressure revealed an increasing renal artery-to-peritubular capillary pressure gradient between 1 and 12 months of CsA therapy. Fractional clearances of dextrans of graded size were elevated at each time compared with the no-CsA group. Analysis of dextran transport with an isoporous membrane model indicates that transglomerular hydraulic pressure difference (delta P) approximated 39 with no-CsA, but was reduced with low-CsA therapy to about 30 at 1 month, and about 34 mmHg after 12 months. We conclude that chronic CsA therapy induces constriction and eventual occlusion of afferent arterioles, causing downstream glomerular damage that is irreversible. Low versus high dosage of CsA confers only marginal protection against this serious microvascular injury.

Chronic tricuspid regurgitation and bifascicular block due to blunt chest trauma

Closed-chest trauma in a young man was followed by rupture of a right ventricular papillary muscle and bifascicular block. This produced signs and symptoms of tricuspid regurgitation and recurrent syncope. Treatment by valve replacement and pacemaker implantation was successful. Review of 30 cases of traumatic tricuspid regurgitation reveals that this patient had characteristic findings: adult onset of isolated tricuspid regurgitation, a history of trauma, right bundle branch block, and cardiomegaly without signs of left ventricular failure. In addition, right atrial hypertension of longstanding may produce cyanosis because of right-left shunting through a patent foramen ovale.

Unusual manifestations of secondary syphilis occurring after orthotopic liver transplantation

A 48-year-old actively homosexual man who had undergone liver transplantation for cirrhosis secondary to hepatitis B infection six years previously presented with a syndrome of diffuse pain, cholestasis, and low-grade fever. The development of thrombocytopenia and persistent hypoprothrombinemia precluded liver biopsy. Subsequently, a skin eruption and VDRL result of 1:128 indicated that most of the findings could be explained by a diagnosis of secondary syphilis with luetic hepatitis and periostitis. This impression was confirmed by a complete response to penicillin therapy. The relation of thrombocytopenia to lues in this case remains uncertain.

Long-term survival and function after cardiac transplantation

Cardiac transplantation now permits prolonged survival for some patients with otherwise fatal heart disease. This report summarizes the hemodynamic and clinical characteristics of 25 patients who have survived five or more years after cardiac replacement. The average age of the patients at the time of operation was 40 +/- 10 (SD) years; 23 were men. The average duration of survival is 6.7 years, and ranges from five to 10.5 years. Annual cardiac catheterization and clinical follow-up were performed to assess systolic cardiac function, coronary anatomy, and quality of extended rehabilitation. We found that among these long-term survivors, the left ventricular ejection fraction remained constant (0.59 +/- 0.08 one year postoperatively, 0.57 +/- 0.09 at most recent study, p = ns). Segmental wall motion measured by fluoroscopic examination of midwall intramyocardial markers also remained normal. Four of 21 (19%) patients with complete longitudinal studies developed significant graft coronary artery disease. Clinical evaluation revealed that the long-term survivors required fewer than one unscheduled admission to the hospital per year. Sixteen of 25 patients (64%) were gainfully employed, and 22 of 25 (88%) enjoyed substantial benefit in terms of extended rehabilitation. These 25 long-term survivors represent 27% of 92 patients transplanted between 1968 and 1975. The actuarial survival rate at five years, of patients transplanted since 1975, is 40 +/- 5%. This increase in survival rate reflects improved techniques of early postoperative management. Cardiac transplantation now offers prolonged survival with good quality of life for selected patients with terminal heart disease.

Coronary arterial narrowing in Takayasu's aortitis

A patient with Takayasu's aortitis and angina pectoris due to severe narrowing of the right and left coronary arterial ostia is described. Takayasu's arteritis produces a panaortitis, with thickening of the adventitia predominating, and an inflammatory cell infiltrate involving the adventitia, outer media and vasa vasorum. Narrowing of the coronary arteries in this disease is due to extension into these arteries of the processes of proliferation of the intima and contraction of the fibrotic media and adventitia that occur in the aorta. The distal coronary arteries usually do not manifest arteritis and are normal in caliber. Angina pectoris may be the first symptom of the disease if the coronary arteries are the initial site of severe arterial narrowing. The coronary arterial bypass graft operation is effective therapy for treating coronary arterial narrowing due to Takayasu's arteritis.

Coordinate synthesis of heme and apoenzyme in the formation of tryptophan pyrrolase

Reciprocal control mechanisms between hemoprotein and 8-aminolevulinic acid synthetase take part in coordinate synthesis of the heme and apoenzyme moieties of tryptophan pyrrolase. Stimulation of heme biosynthesis increases tryptophan pyrrolase, whereas enhancement of heme binding by apotryptophan pyrrolase secondarily increases the formation of delta-aminolevulinic acid synthetase, the rate-limiting enzyme in heme formation. Tryptophan-mediated induction of delta-aminolevulinic acid synthetase suggests that heme participates in repression of that enzyme