title: Long-term assessment of heart rate variability in cardiac transplant recipients.
abstract: Sympathetic and parasympathetic reinnervation of the transplanted heart were evaluated by assessing time and frequency domain measurements of heart rate variability at 5 and 8 years. Continuous 24-hour ECG measurements were performed in 13 patients (57 +/- 6 months and 90 +/- 7 months) after orthotopic cardiac transplantation and in 22 healthy age and gender-matched controls, and were analyzed for heart rate variability in the time and frequency domains. Heart rate variability measures reflective of sympathetic reinnervation were sub-normal at 5 years and unchanged at 8 years: those reflective of parasympathetic reinnervation were absent.
authors.affiliation: Henry Ford Heart and Vascular Institute, Detroit, Michigan, USA. ellen.keeley@mssm.edu
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Keeley
authors.forename: Z K
authors.initials: ZK
authors.lastname: Toth
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Goldberg
mesh_terms: D015716:Electrocardiography, Ambulatory; D006321:Heart / Q000294:innervation; D006339:Heart Rate; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009416:Nerve Regeneration; D011446:Prospective Studies