Serial assessment of left ventricular function and mass after orthotopic heart transplantation: a 4-year longitudinal study.
Long-term changes in left ventricular performance and geometry in the transplanted human heart have been incompletely described. Therefore, two-dimensional echocardiograms were performed on 22 recipients of an orthotopic heart transplant at 1 month (32 +/- 20 days), 1 year (11 +/- 3 months) and 4 years (54 +/- 9 months) after transplantation. All studies were performed at a time when the patient had no pathologic evidence of rejection. Ten healthy men served as a normal control group. Over 4 years of follow-up, mean systolic blood pressure in the study patients increased from 121 +/- 12 (p = NS vs. values in the control group) to 139 +/- 11 mm Hg (p less than 0.05 vs. both control values and values at 1 month); mean diastolic blood pressure increased from 72 +/- 7 (p = NS vs. normal values in the control group) to 93 +/- 8 mm Hg (p less than 0.05 vs. both control values and values at 1 month). Left ventricular end-systolic volume increased from 42 +/- 10 (p = NS vs. control values) to 51 +/- 14 ml (p less than 0.05 vs. both control values and values at 1 month) and end-diastolic volume increased from 103 +/- 28 (p = NS vs. control values) to 112 +/- 27 ml (p less than 0.05 vs. control values) over 4 years. Left ventricular mass and ejection fraction did not change significantly within the patient cohort and remained similar to that found in the control group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Tischler
M D
MD
Cardiovascular Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.
Lee
R T
RT
Plappert
T
T
Mudge
G H
GH
St John Sutton
M
M
Parker
J D
JD
D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D001900:Boston / Q000453:epidemiology; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D004452:Echocardiography; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000502:physiology; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000502:physiology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology*; D009929:Organ Size / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology*