Abnormal ambulatory left ventricular ejection fraction in heart transplant arteriopathy.
The morbidity and mortality from heart transplantation has been reduced dramatically over the last several years. However, the long-term survival in heart transplant recipients is limited by arteriopathy in the allograft coronary arteries, the pathophysiology of which is poorly understood. The diagnosis of this arteriopathy is at present limited to cardiac catheterization. Noninvasive studies have proven to be of limited benefit in diagnosing this arteriopathy. The authors performed cardiac vest studies in nine heart transplant recipient patients. Six of the vest studies were abnormal; five of the patients had documented transplant coronary artery disease by cardiac catheterization. They found that the sensitivity and negative predictive value of the cardiac vest in identifying arteriopathy in transplant recipients was 100%. The authors propose that cardiac vest could be a sensitive, noninvasive screening test for identifying arteriopathy in heart transplant recipients.
Sobotka
P A
PA
Department of Medicine, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL 60153.
Patel
R I
RI
Wagner
R H
RH
Heroux
A L
AL
Popovski
S
S
Johnson
S A
SA
Henkin
R E
RE
D000553:Ambulatory Care; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D013318:Stroke Volume / Q000502:physiology*