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E B Stinson

Publications and source records attributed to E B Stinson.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Intracoronary ultrasound in cardiac transplant recipients. In vivo evidence of "angiographically silent" intimal thickening.

BACKGROUND: Accelerated coronary atherosclerosis is a major factor limiting allograft longevity in cardiac transplant recipients. Histopathology studies have demonstrated the insensitivity of coronary angiography for detecting early atheromatous disease in this patient population. Intracoronary ultrasound is a new imaging technique that provides characterization of vessel wall morphology. The purpose of this study was to compare in vivo intracoronary ultrasound with angiography in cardiac transplant recipients. METHODS AND RESULTS: The left anterior descending coronary artery was studied with intracoronary ultrasound in 80 cardiac transplant recipients at the time of routine screening coronary angiography 2 weeks to 13 years after transplantation. A mean and index of intimal thickening were obtained at four coronary sites. Intimal proliferation was classified as minimal, mild, moderate, or severe according to thickness and degree of vessel circumference involved. Twenty patients were studied within 1 month of transplantation and had no angiographic evidence of coronary disease. An intimal layer was visualized by ultrasound in only 13 of these 20 presumably normal hearts. The 60 patients studied 1 year or more after transplantation all had at least minimal intimal thickening. Twenty-one patients (35%) showed minimal or mild, 17 (28%) moderate, and 21 (35%) severe thickening. Forty-two of these 60 patients had angiographically normal coronary arteries, 21 (50%) of whom had either moderate or severe thickening. All 18 patients with angiographic evidence of coronary disease had moderate or severe intimal thickening, but there was no statistically significant difference in intimal thickness or index when compared with the patients with moderate or severe proliferation and normal angiograms (thickness, 0.53 +/- 0.35 mm versus 0.64 +/- 0.30 mm, p = NS; index, 0.28 +/- 0.10 versus 0.34 +/- 0.10, p = NS). CONCLUSIONS: The majority of patients 1 or more years after cardiac transplantation have ultrasound evidence of intimal thickening not apparent by angiography. Intracoronary ultrasound offers early detection and quantitation of transplant coronary disease and provides characterization of vessel wall morphology, which may prove to be a prognostic marker of disease.

Coronary Angiography↗
PubMed1992

Detection of coronary atherosclerosis in young adult hearts using intravascular ultrasound.

BACKGROUND: Coronary atherosclerosis has been demonstrated in young adults by postmortem pathology. Angiographic evaluation of coronary disease in young adults is limited by ethical issues and the insensitivity of angiography for detecting early pathology. Catheter-based intracoronary ultrasound has proven useful both in detecting and quantitating coronary disease, but the ultrasound appearance of young, angiographically normal, coronary arteries has not been well defined. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twenty-five subjects were examined with intracoronary ultrasound within 1 month of cardiac transplantation. Mean age of the donor hearts was 28 years (range, 14-43 years). Measurements of an index of intimal thickening were obtained at four left anterior descending coronary artery sites in each patient. All study patients had angiographically normal coronary arteries. Ultrasound in 14 subjects demonstrated a three-layered appearance of the coronary vessel wall with a mean intimal index of 0.16 +/- 0.07. The other 10 subjects, including all donors under the age of 25 years, had coronary vessel wall layers too thin to be imaged separately at the 30-MHz sound frequency. Five subjects had ultrasound evidence of focal intimal thickening greater than 500 microns. The donors of these hearts each had risk factors for coronary artery disease. Two subjects died within 5 weeks of their ultrasound study. Histological measurements of the vessel wall layers were similar to the corresponding ultrasound values. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a reference for the intravascular ultrasound appearance of young adult coronary arteries and confirms pathology findings that young subjects with angiographically normal vessels have a range of coronary intimal thickening, which includes occasional evidence of focal, early atheromatous lesions.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Current trends in lung transplantation. Lobar transplantation and expanded use of single lungs.

Heart-lung transplantation remains the only therapeutic option for patients with combined end-stage cardiopulmonary disease. Because of the scarcity of heart-lung donors, we have been investigating other surgical alternatives for patients with end-stage vascular and parenchymal lung disease. From June 1989 through June 1991, 48 patients underwent pulmonary transplantation. Seventeen of the 48 patients underwent single lung transplantation. Of the 17 patients in the single lung group, eight patients had pulmonary hypertension and nine had parenchymal lung disease. Four of the 17 patients underwent repair of a cardiac defect with single lung transplantation. One-year actuarial survival was 68%. Pulmonary function has been excellent. The forced expiratory volume in 1 second was 79.6 +/- 13.6 (percent predicted), forced expiratory flow 25%-75% was 72.6 +/- 14.5 (percent predicted), and arterial oxygen tension was 82.8 +/- 10.06 mm Hg when measured at annual follow-up in a group of eight patients without obliterative bronchiolitis. Pulmonary artery pressures of systemic level or greater in the group with pulmonary vascular disease were normal at annual catheterization. Most patients had at least one episode of allograft rejection. Actuarial freedom from rejection at the end of 3 months was 30%. Three of the 17 single lung patients receiving lung lobes were children. Two children received living-related lobe transplants and one neonate received a lobe from a 2-year-old cadaver donor. Single lung transplantation is an effective therapeutic option for selected patients with vascular or parenchymal lung disease. Expanding indications will permit more individuals to receive transplants from the existing donor pool. Living-related and cadaver lobe transplantation will also increase the options available to children in need of lung transplantation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Durability of porcine valves at fifteen years in a representative North American patient population.

Isolated aortic (n = 857) or mitral (n = 793) valve replacement with a porcine bioprosthesis was performed in 1650 patients between 1971 and 1980. Follow-up (total = 12,012 patient-years) extended to more than 15 years and was 96% complete. Patient age ranged from 16 to 87 years; mean age was 59 +/- 11 years (+/- 1 standard deviation) for the aortic valve replacement cohort and 56 +/- 12 years for the mitral valve replacement cohort. The operative mortality rates were 5% +/- 1% (+/- 70% confidence limits) and 8% +/- 1%, respectively, for the aortic and mitral subgroups. Estimated freedom from structural valve deterioration (+/- 1 standard error of the mean) after 10 and 15 years was significantly higher for the aortic than for the mitral valve replacement subgroup (85% +/- 0.4% and 63% +/- 3% versus 78% +/- 2% and 45% +/- 3%, respectively, p = 0.001). Reoperation-free actuarial estimates were also significantly greater for the aortic valve replacement cohort: 83% +/- 2% and 57% +/- 3% versus 78% +/- 2% and 43% +/- 3% for mitral valve replacement at 10 and 15 years, respectively. The mortality rate for reoperative aortic valve replacement was 11% +/- 1%; it was 8% +/- 1% for reoperative mitral valve replacement. Importantly, the estimates of freedom from valve-related death (including sudden, unexplained deaths) were relatively high at 10 and 15 years: 78% +/- 2% and 69% +/- 3% in the aortic cohort and 74% +/- 2% and 63% +/- 3% in the mitral cohort (p = not significant). Excluding sudden, unexplained deaths, these estimates were 81% +/- 3% (aortic) and 73% +/- 4% (mitral) at 15 years. Thromboembolism-free rates were 84% +/- 3% (aortic) and 78% +/- 6% (mitral) at 15 years, and freedom from anticoagulant-related hemorrhage was 96% +/- 1% and 89% +/- 2%, respectively. At the time of current follow-up, 13% of patients having aortic valve replacement and 50% of patients having mitral valve replacement were receiving warfarin sodium. The hazard functions for thromboembolism and prosthetic valve endocarditis were constant and remained less than 1%/pt-yr over the entire follow-up period.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Actuarial Analysis↗
PubMed1991

Frequency and mechanism of bradycardia in cardiac transplant recipients and need for pacemakers.

Orthotopic cardiac transplantation is occasionally complicated by unexplained bradyarrhythmias. Sinus node injury as a consequence of operation or acute rejection has anecdotally been linked to the development of bradycardia early after transplantation. These arrhythmias are empirically managed by pacemaker implantation, the indications for which remain poorly defined. This retrospective study examined the 20-year experience of our institution with bradyarrhythmias after transplantation to determine the predisposing factors and indications for pacemaker implantation. Forty-one of 556 patients in our cardiac transplant program (7.4%) received permanent pacemakers between 1969 and 1989. The predominant rhythm disturbances were junctional rhythm (46%), sinus arrest (27%) and sinus bradycardia (17%). Most patients were asymptomatic (61%), and presented in the early post-transplant period (73%). Four possible predisposing factors were evaluated: (1) graft ischemic time, (2) rejection history, (3) use of bradycardia-inducing drugs, and (4) anatomy of blood supply to the sinoatrial (SA) node. No significant differences existed between patients with and without pacemakers with regard to the first 3 variables. However, after transplantation angiograms showed that prevalence of abnormal SA nodal arteries was greater in patients with than without pacemakers (p less than 0.02). Pacemaker follow-up at 3, 6 and 12 months showed persistent bradycardia (60 to 90 beats/min) in 88, 75 and 50% of patients, respectively. The most common pacemaker complication (15%) was lead displacement at time of biopsy. These results suggest that disruption of the SA nodal blood supply may be an important predisposing factor in the development of bradycardias.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Heart-lung transplantation in infants, children, and adolescents.

We have performed heart-lung transplantation in 10 children for the preoperative diagnoses of primary pulmonary hypertension (4), complex congenital heart disease with pulmonary hypertension (4), pulmonary atresia (1), and cystic fibrosis (1). Ages ranged from 4 months to 18 years. There were 15 episodes of pulmonary rejection, with an occurrence rate of 1.67 episodes per patient. Pulmonary infections occurred frequently, with an occurrence rate of 3.3 episodes per patient. The actuarial survival rate at 1 and 2 years was 78% and 47%, respectively. Patient attrition between 1 and 2 years was attributable to the complications of obliterative bronchiolitis, which has effected 71% (5/7) of the long-term survivors. Four of the 5 surviving children have minimal physical limitation and are in functional class I. These data support continued investigation into heart-lung transplantation in children and set the stage for further program development into single-lung transplantation in children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Alterations in left ventricular diastolic twist mechanics during acute human cardiac allograft rejection.

BACKGROUND: Contraction of obliquely oriented left ventricular (LV) fibers results in a twisting motion of the left ventricle. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of acute human cardiac allograft rejection on LV twist pattern and the twist-volume relation. METHODS AND RESULTS: Tantalum markers were implanted into the LV midwall in 15 transplant recipients to measure time-varying, three-dimensional chamber twist using computer-assisted analysis of biplane cinefluoroscopic images. Twist was defined as the mean longitudinal gradient of circumferential rotation about the LV long axis. When plotted against normalized percent ejection fraction (%EF), the resulting twist-normalized %EF relation could be divided into three phases. In systole, LV twist was linearly related to ejection of blood. In contrast, diastolic untwist was characterized by early rapid recoil with little change in LV volume, followed by more gradual untwisting when the bulk of diastolic filling occurred. During 10 acute rejection episodes in 10 patients, maximum twist, peak systolic twist rate, and the slope of the systolic twist-normalized %EF relation did not change. In contrast, the slope of the early (first 15% of filling) diastolic twist-normalized %EF relation (M(early-dia)) decreased significantly (-0.194 +/- 0.062 [prerejection] versus -0.103 +/- 0.054 rad/cm [rejection], p = 0.0003), resulting in a prolonged tau 1/2 (time required to untwist by 50% [20 +/- 5% versus 28 +/- 5% of diastole], p = 0.0003) and decrease in percent untwisting at 15% diastolic LV filling (62 +/- 11% versus 36 +/- 13%, p = 0.0003). Therefore, a greater proportion of LV untwisting occurred later in diastole during rejection, as reflected by an increase in the slope (M(mid-dia)) of the middle to late (from 15 to 90% filling) diastolic twist-normalized %EF relation (-0.018 +/- 0.009 versus -0.030 +/- 0.010 rad/cm, p = 0.0015). Peak rate of untwist was not affected. With resolution of rejection, M(early-dia) and percent untwist during early diastole returned to baseline levels (p = NS versus baseline). There was also a trend for M(mid-dia) to return toward prerejection values (p = NS versus baseline), but this change did not reach statistical significance compared with rejection values. CONCLUSION: Acute cardiac allograft rejection is associated with altered diastolic twist mechanics in the absence of any demonstratable systolic abnormalities. During rejection, myocardial edema and other factors may result in intrinsic changes of the elastic properties of the myocardium, thereby leading to modification of recoil forces responsible for the early, rapid unwinding of the deformed ventricle.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1991

Effect of volume loading, pressure loading, and inotropic stimulation on left ventricular torsion in humans.

BACKGROUND: The transmural distribution of fiber angles and the extent of shortening among obliquely oriented fibers are likely to be major determinants of the twisting motion that accompanies left ventricular (LV) ejection. As such, measurements of torsion may provide useful information about LV contractile function, but other factors, such as ventricular loading conditions, may also regulate this motion. METHODS AND RESULTS: Torsion angles (theta i) of midventricular and apical regions were measured relative to a reference minor axis near the base in seven human cardiac allografts from biplane radiographic images of metallic midwall markers. Pressure loading with methoxamine (5-10 muk/kg/min) increased LV end-systolic pressure by 41 +/- 14 mm Hg (p less than 0.0001). Volume loading with normal saline raised LV end-diastolic pressure from 9.9 +/- 5.2 to 19.6 +/- 4.9 mm Hg (p less than 0.0001). These alterations in LV loading conditions were associated with no change in theta i (difference not significant) for any marker site. Inotropic stimulation with dobutamine (5 micrograms/kg/min) increased values of theta i by as much as twofold (p less than 0.05); this response varied considerably depending on marker location, with the middle and apical inferior wall and the apical lateral wall being the most sensitive. When the marker site associated with the largest torsion angle (theta max) was considered in each patient, dobutamine increased theta max in all cases (25.2 +/- 10.5 degrees versus 15.8 +/- 7.7 degrees, p less than 0.001), whereas pressure and volume loading had negligible effects. This 59% increase in theta max was greater than that of conventional load-dependent indexes of LV systolic performance such as stroke volume (16%), ejection fraction (22%), and maximum rate of LV pressure rise (52%). CONCLUSIONS: This component of LV motion is relatively insensitive to alterations in preload and afterload, while changes in contractile state influence LV torsion in a regionally heterogeneous manner. Quantification of LV torsion may, therefore, provide a sensitive and relatively load-independent measure of contractile performance that may prove to be useful in the serial assessment of LV function.

Cineradiography↗
PubMed1990

Cardiac transplantation in patients with preexisting neoplastic diseases.

Cardiac transplantation has traditionally been reserved for individuals with end-stage congestive heart failure (CHF) in whom there is no history of other life-threatening systemic disorders. In most transplant centers, patients with a history of malignancy and severe heart failure have not been considered acceptable candidates for cardiac transplantation. In the last 4 years at Stanford University Medical Center, 8 cardiac transplants have been performed in 7 patients with a history of neoplastic disease. Six of these patients had already received treatment for lymphoproliferative disorders and in 1 case, a patient underwent a transplant after treatment for adenocarcinoma of the colon. Six of the 7 patients were discharged from the hospital and in that group, the 1-year posttransplant survival rate was 71%. This was comparable to an overall 1-year survival rate of 80% for patients undergoing a cardiac transplant at our center during the same period of time. At follow-up averaging over 2 years, there has been 1 case of recurrent neoplasia. One patient with evidence of radiation-induced pulmonary damage died of respiratory failure 2 days after transplantation. One patient required retransplantation because of intractable rejection and subsequently died from infectious complications. Immunosuppressive therapy in these patients has not been associated with an increased risk for neoplastic recurrence or for the development of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorders. The current study demonstrates that in a carefully selected group, previously treated neoplastic disease should not represent a contraindication to cardiac transplantation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Treatment of patients with aortic dissection presenting with peripheral vascular complications.

The incidence of peripheral vascular complications in 272 patients with aortic dissection during a 25-year span was determined, as was outcome after a uniform, aggressive surgical approach directed at repair of the thoracic aorta. One hundred twenty-eight patients (47%) presented with acute type A dissection, 70 (26%) with chronic type A, 40 (15%) with acute type B, and 34 (12%) with chronic type B dissections. Eighty-five patients (31%) sustained one or more peripheral vascular complications: Seven (3%) had a stroke, nine (3%) had paraplegia, 66 (24%) sustained loss of a peripheral pulse, 22 (8%) had impaired renal perfusion, and 14 patients (5%) had compromised visceral perfusion. Following repair of the thoracic aorta, local peripheral vascular procedures were unnecessary in 92% of patients who presented with absence of a peripheral pulse. The operative mortality rate for all patients was 25% +/- 3% (68 of 272 patients). For the subsets of individuals with paraplegia, loss of renal perfusion, and compromised visceral perfusion, the operative mortality rates (+/- 70% confidence limits) were high: 44% +/- 17% (4 of 9 patients), 50% +/- 11% (11 of 22 patients), and 43% +/- 14% (6 of 14 patients), respectively. The mortality rates were lower for patients presenting with stroke (14% +/- 14% [1 of 7 patients]) or loss of peripheral pulse (27% +/- 6% [18 of 66 patients]). Multivariate analysis revealed that impaired renal perfusion was the only peripheral vascular complication that was a significant independent predictor of increased operative mortality risk (p = 0.024); earlier surgical referral (replacement of the appropriate section of the thoracic aorta) or more expeditious diagnosis followed by surgical renal artery revascularization after a thoracic procedure may represent the only way to improve outcome in this high-risk patient subset. Early, aggressive thoracic aortic repair (followed by aortic fenestration and/or abdominal exploration with or without direct visceral or renal vascular reconstruction when necessary) can save some patients with compromised visceral perfusion; however, once visceral infarction develops the prognosis is also poor. Increased awareness of these devastating complications of aortic dissection and the availability of better diagnostic tools today may improve the survival rate for these patients in the future. The initial surgical procedure should include repair of the thoracic aorta in most patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Three-dimensional left ventricular midwall dynamics in the transplanted human heart.

To quantify the three-dimensional regional dynamics of the left ventricular (LV) midwall and the centroid and cross-sectional shape of the LV chamber in the transplanted human heart, 12 miniature radiopaque tantalum markers were implanted in the LV midwall of the donor heart at the time of cardiac transplantation in 15 patients. Stereo cineradiography in the late postoperative period (mean, 52 days after surgery) allowed computer-aided measurements of the three-dimensional coordinates of multiple sites in anterior, inferior, lateral, and septal LV regions at 16.7-msec intervals throughout the cardiac cycle. In awake, supine patients, from maximum to minimum LV volume, group mean translations of free wall markers ranged from 0.80 to 1.24 cm, directed toward the LV interior, whereas translations of septal wall markers were significantly less, 0.46 and 0.34 cm (p less than 0.01), directed away from the LV interior. A component of this translation along the septal-lateral axis was also significantly less (p less than 0.01) in the septum (0.19 and 0.20 cm) than in the free wall, where it ranged from 0.32 to 0.97 cm. The LV cross section was not circular, and anterior-inferior dimensions (7.18 +/- 0.66 and 6.13 +/- 0.79 cm, at maximum and minimum volumes, respectively) were significantly greater (p less than 0.01) than septal-lateral dimensions (5.78 +/- 0.65 and 5.12 +/- 0.48 cm), yielding an unchanging transverse elliptical LV eccentricity (0.58 +/- 0.13). The position of the LV center of volume did not change significantly from maximum to minimum volume in the direction of either the LV long axis or the anterior-inferior axis, but it did change significantly (0.55 +/- 0.23 cm, p less than 0.01) along the septal-lateral axis. We conclude 1) as viewed in a fixed external reference system, midwall sites in the interventricular septum of the transplanted human heart move paradoxically yet are relatively immobile compared with the three-dimensional dynamics of midwall sites in the LV free wall; 2) the transverse cross-sectional shape of the LV in the transplanted human heart is decidedly oval, with significantly greater anterior-posterior than septal-lateral dimensions at the time of maximum and minimum LV volumes; and 3) the center of volume in the transplanted human LV is remarkably stable in the directions of the LV long axis and anterior-posterior axis, suggesting a balance of forces along these axes, yet it moves significantly toward the interventricular septum, presumably counterbalancing the opposite translation during systole of the right ventricular (RV) center of volume.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Cardiac Volume↗
PubMed1990

Progressive coronary luminal narrowing after cardiac transplantation.

Accelerated coronary disease is a major factor limiting long-term survival in cardiac transplant recipients. Coronary angiography was obtained a mean of 5.1 weeks posttransplantation and annually thereafter. Replicate projections recorded after nitroglycerine administration were quantitated using computer-assisted edge detection. Five hundred and fifteen coronary segments in 25 patients having 1-year follow-up and 353 segments in 18 patients reaching 2-year follow-up were compared with baseline angiograms. Significant change was defined as +/- 0.10 mm, equal to 3.8% change in diameter based on three standard deviations obtained from estimation of measurement error. Mean coronary diameter fell from 2.44 +/- 0.26 mm at baseline to 2.21 +/- 0.34 mm (p less than 0.001) at 1-year follow-up. This rate of diameter decline was 20-fold more rapid during the initial posttransplantation year than the rate of change of visually normal segments in nontransplant patients with coronary atherosclerosis elsewhere. There was no significant drop in mean diameter between the first and second year in those patients who had second-year studies. Decrease in absolute diameter for vessels greater than 2.9 mm significantly exceeded diameter reduction for smaller vessels but did not differ when considered as a ratio of vessel diameter. In 21 of 25 patients, mean coronary diameter reduction exceeded the three-standard deviation threshold at their last angiogram, but only two of these patients had visually detectable transplant coronary disease.

Cineangiography↗
PubMed1990

Improved survival after heart-lung transplantation.

Sixty-two patients underwent 65 heart-lung transplant operations before April 1989. Thirty of these patients (operated on March 1981 to February 1986) were given cyclosporine and prednisone for immunosuppression. These 30 patients (group 1) are compared with the 32 most recent patients (group 2) treated with cyclosporine, prednisone, and azathioprine. Patient characteristics (group 1 versus group 2) were similar including age (mean 32 versus 26 years) and indication for operation (51% versus 38%, primary pulmonary hypertension; 46% versus 45%, Eisenmenger complex; 3% versus 17%, other). The perioperative (in-hospital) mortality rate was 35% in group 1 versus 16% in group 2. Obliterative bronchiolitis developed in 12 (63%) of 19 hospital survivors in group 1 from 2 months to 49 months postoperatively (mean 12 months). This complication has developed in five (20%) of the 25 hospital survivors in group 2 from 3 to 13 months postoperatively (mean 8 months). Overall, 24 of the 30 patients in group 1 died (infection in eight, obliterative bronchiolitis in five, graft coronary artery disease in two, other causes in nine). Eight of the 32 patients in group 2 died (infection in six, other cases in two). Survival rates for group 1 patients were 60% at 1 year, 50% at 2 years, 43% at 3 years, and 25% at 5 years. Survival rates for group 2 patients were 73% at 1 year, 73% at 2 years, and 65% at 3 years (p less than 0.05). When group 2 patients were compared with 134 patients undergoing heart transplantation during the same time period, there was no difference in survival. Routine bronchoscopic surveillance in the more recent group of patients has led to the earlier detection of rejection and infection. In combination with decreased perioperative mortality and augmented immunosuppression, this had led to improved survival in our more recent heart-lung transplant recipients. In addition, the earlier recognition of infection and rejection has led to a decrease in severity of obliterative bronchiolitis.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Eight-year results of cyclosporine-treated patients with cardiac transplants.

To elucidate the long-term effects of cyclosporine, we retrospectively studied 310 consecutive patients who have undergone cardiac transplantation at our institution since December 1980 and in whom immunosuppression has been maintained with cyclosporine. The ages of recipients ranged from 1 month to 64 years and of donors from 1 month to 48 years. The actuarial survival rates for cyclosporine-treated patients were 80.7% at 1 year and 59.7% at 5 years and were significantly greater than those for previous patients not treated with cyclosporine (p less than 0.005). Their actuarial prevalence of rejection was 60.0% at 1 month and 86.9% at 1 year; 206 patients are living. The actuarial prevalence of lymphoma development was 4.6% at 5 years but has been significantly lower with the current immunosuppression protocol of lower doses of cyclosporine, and OKT3 in place of rabbit anti-thymocyte globulin (p less than 0.005). Infection remains the most common cause of death. Recipients less than 50 years of age had a significantly higher actuarial survival than older recipients (p less than 0.01). Male and female recipients had similar overall prevalence of survival and rejection, but men died of graft atherosclerosis significantly more frequently (p less than 0.005). Rehabilitation has been successful in 85% of patients surviving 1 year after transplantation. Of those surviving 1 year, 96.5% were in New York Heart Association class I. Thus the results of orthotopic cardiac transplantation have improved since the introduction of cyclosporine and have allowed measured liberalization of the criteria for recipient selection.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Acute myocardial infarction in cardiac transplant recipients.

To characterize the clinical and pathologic features of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in cardiac transplant recipients, 22 Stanford patients who had 25 documented infarcts at a mean of 3.86 years after transplantation were reviewed. Symptoms included chest pain (2), arm pain (3), weakness (16), dyspnea (11) and palpitations (8). Three episodes were clinically silent, detected only as new electrocardiographic changes during routine follow-up. Of 18 patients hospitalized with symptoms, only 7 had electrocardiographic changes of typical Q-wave AMI; 5 had nonspecific ST-segment changes and 2 had no documented changes. Two had old Q waves. Twelve of the 18 were misdiagnosed at admission as having infection or congestive heart failure. Serial creatine phosphokinase levels were obtained in 13 patients, and values were elevated in 8. Six of 25 AMI episodes were associated with development of congestive heart failure and 4 others led to development of cardiogenic shock. Seven patients died during the acute phase of infarction, 12 were retransplanted from 2 days to 6 months after infarct and 1 died suddenly after discharge. Two healed myocardial infarctions of unknown duration were found at autopsy or on explantation in patients not clinically suspected of having an AMI. All infarcts occurred in patients known to have angiographic evidence of transplant coronary artery disease, based on annual coronary arteriography. At autopsy or explantation all hearts were found to have characteristic diffuse concentric coronary artery narrowing, and 4 (18%) had an unusual pattern of multiple foci of nontransmural AMI.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Cardiac retransplantation in the cyclosporine era.

Between December 1980, when immunosuppression with cyclosporine was introduced, and May 1988, 288 patients underwent primary transplantation for end-stage cardiac disease (group TX). Fourteen patients underwent retransplantation for accelerated graft atherosclerosis (group RTXAGA), and 9 underwent retransplantation for intractable acute allograft rejection (group RTXREJ). Cumulative patient follow-up was 724 patient-years (range, 1 month to 7.5 years; mean, 2.3 years). Within the first 3 postoperative months, no differences were noted between groups for linearized rates of infection or rejection except between the rate of rejection for group TX (1.69 +/- 0.09 events/100 patient-days) and group RTXAGA (0.94 +/- 0.3 events/100 patient-days) (p less than 0.02). No significant differences existed between groups for actuarial rates of remaining rejection-free or infection-free for more than 7.5 years. No significant differences in actuarial survival existed except between group TX (81% +/- 2% at 1 year and 58% +/- 4% at 5 years) and group RTXREJ (44% +/- 17% at 1 year and 44% +/- 0% at 5 years) (p less than 0.05). We conclude that patients who undergo retransplantation for accelerated graft atherosclerosis experience a lower rate of early rejection and similar rates of infection and survival compared with patients who receive primary transplants. Cardiac retransplantation for rejection incurs rejection and infection at rates similar to those of primary procedures. However, patients who undergo retransplantation for rejection survive these complications significantly less often than do patients who receive primary transplants. This information should be considered when scarce donor hearts become available and retransplantation is contemplated.

Adult↗