title: Heart transplantation in patients with amyloidosis.
abstract: Cardiac transplantation is currently the only established surgical approach to the treatment of refractory heart failure. Heart transplantation because of amyloid cardiomyopathy continues to generate controversy because of donor shortage and concerns about disease recurrence in the allograft. We reviewed the medical records for all patients who underwent heart transplantation at our institution from 1987 to 2007, and found that 4 patients were diagnosed as having amyloid cardiomyopathy after pathologic examination of the excised hearts. No operative mortality was noted; however, all of the patients died of sepsis after transplantation. Because of the poor results, we do not recommended performing transplantation in patients with amyloidosis. Preoperative surveys and evaluation for amyloidosis must be emphasized in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: J-M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: N-K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: N-H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Chi
authors.forename: Y-S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: H-Y
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: C-H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: W-J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: C-I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Tsao
authors.forename: C-D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: S-S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000686:Amyloidosis / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000401:mortality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009101:Multiple Myeloma / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous