Renal failure as a determinant of mortality after cardiac transplantation.
BACKGROUND
Patients with heart failure frequently develop renal failure, which increases the mortality rate among patients undergoing cardiac transplantation.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether preoperative renal function influenced postoperative mortality in cardiac transplantation recipients.


METHODS
The measurements of plasma urea, plasma creatinine, and 24-hour creatinine clearance in patients who underwent cardiac transplantation were correlated with mortality at 30, 90, and 365 days after the procedure, using Student t test for continuous variables and the chi-square test for categorical variables.


RESULTS
All variables correlated with mortality, particularly plasma creatinine at 30, 90, and 365 days (P =.029,.003, and.0029, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
Preoperative renal failure is a mortality indicator in cardiac transplantation recipients.
Cipullo
R
R
Dante Pazzanese Cardiology Institute, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Finger
M A
MA
Ponce
F
F
Zarati
J V
JV
Castro Neto
J
J
Guerra
C I C O
CI
Magalhães
H M
HM
Manrique
R
R
Dinkhuysen
J J
JJ
D005260:Female; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000145:classification / Q000401:mortality; D051437:Renal Insufficiency / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D012189:Retrospective Studies