Paced epimyocardial electrograms for noninvasive rejection monitoring after heart transplantation.
BACKGROUND
Diagnosis of acute heart rejection after transplantation with the help of epimyocardial electrograms has been reported as a sensitive and practicable method. Long-term follow-up has been limited, however, by variations o signal, which can be avoided by using pacemaker-induced signals.


METHODS
For stimulation and detection of the ventricular evoked response, a new type of electrode with fractal surface structure was used. Seventeen patients undergoing heart transplantation were included in the study. Amplitudes of the depolarization and repolarization parts of ventricular evoked response signals were analyzed and related to the degree of acute rejection according to histologic findings from endomyocardial biopsy.


RESULTS
In cases of focal moderate rejection (grade 2, International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation grading) and higher degrees of rejection, significant amplitude decreases were found.


CONCLUSIONS
This sensitive noninvasive method for rejection monitoring with a high level of reliability provides the possibility of reducing the number of endomyocardial biopsies.
Department of Surgery, University of Graz, Austria.
T
T
Auer
G
G
Schreier
H
H
Hutten
R
R
Kleinert
A
A
Wasler
B
B
Petutschnigg
F
F
Iberer
K
K
Tscheliessnigg
M
M
Schaldach
D001706:Biopsy; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D004699:Endocardium / Q000473:pathology; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D010138:Pacemaker, Artificial; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted