title: Ventricular assist devices and aggressive immunosuppression: looking beyond overall survival.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients bridged to heart transplantation with a ventricular assist device (VAD) developed coronary vasculopathy at the same rate as non-bridged patients despite having higher levels of pre-formed antibodies. We hypothesized that allosensitized VAD patients have higher levels of immunosuppression and thus different morbidity and causes of mortality.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients who received a transplant between January 1996 and May 2002 were separated into 2 groups based on the need for VAD support as a bridge to transplantation. Transplant and Inpatient Pharmacy Databases and charts were queried for date of transplantation, degree of allosensitization, use of desensitization therapy, immunosuppressive strategies, number of treated rejection episodes, and specific causes of death.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This study investigated 238 patients (125 VAD patients, 113 non-VAD patients). VAD patients were more likely to be allosensitized than non-VAD patients (20% vs 5%, p < 0.01). OKT3 was given to 22% of VAD patients as anti-rejection prophylaxis and 14% received pre-transplant plasmapheresis. Non-VAD patients rarely were desensitized (2.6% of non-VAD patients). After transplantation, 68 VAD patients (54%) and 44 non-VAD patients (39%) had episodes of severe rejection requiring therapy. Episodes of rejection in VAD patients were commonly treated with steroids (90%), plasmapheresis (10%), and OKT3 (7%), and episodes of rejection in non-VAD patients were treated with steroids (76%) and OKT3 (8%). The 5-year survival for both groups was similar (90% and 86% respectively, p = 0.31). VAD patients commonly died of sepsis (75%), and non-VAD patients died of rejection (39%) and ischemic transplant cardiomyopathy (30%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  When short-term outcomes between bridged and non-bridged heart transplant recipients were compared, overall survival was similar but causes of death differed. Findings in this study might aid in the post-operative management of patients bridged to transplantation with a VAD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio 44121, USA. gonzalg@ccf.org
authors.forename: Gonzalo V
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Gonzalez-Stawinski
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: Albert S Y
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Michael K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Banbury
authors.forename: Jose L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Navia
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hoercher
authors.forename: Cheryl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lober
authors.forename: Fernando A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Atik
authors.forename: David O
authors.initials: DO
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Mohamed H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Yamani
authors.forename: James B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Randall C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Starling
authors.forename: Nicholas G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Smedira
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000961:Antilymphocyte Serum / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002423:Cause of Death; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000188:drug therapy; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000276:immunology* / Q000401:mortality; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices; D006801:Humans; D016756:Immunoglobulins, Intravenous / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008775:Methylprednisolone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged; D016853:Muromonab-CD3 / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D010956:Plasmapheresis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018805:Sepsis / Q000453:epidemiology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000961:Antilymphocyte Serum; D016756:Immunoglobulins, Intravenous; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D016853:Muromonab-CD3; D010446:Peptide Fragments; C111242:thrombin receptor peptide (1-41); D008775:Methylprednisolone