title: Early postoperative pulmonary complications after heart transplantation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to determine the types, incidence, and risk factors for early postoperative pulmonary complications in heart transplant recipients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively collected data from the records of consecutive heart transplantations from January 2003 to December 2013. A total of 83 patients underwent heart transplantation. The data collected for each case were demographic features, duration of mechanical ventilation, respiratory problems that developed during the intensive care unit (ICU) stay, and early postoperative mortality (<30 d).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 72 patients considered, 52 (72.2%) were male. The overall mean age at the time of transplantation was 32.1 ± 16.6 years. Twenty-five patients (34.7%) developed early postoperative respiratory complications. The most frequent problem was pleural effusion (n = 19; 26.4%), followed by atelectasis (n = 6; 8.3%), acute respiratory distress syndrome (n = 5; 6.9%), pulmonary edema (n = 4; 5.6%), and pneumonia (n = 3; 4.2%). Postoperative duration of mechanical ventilation (44.2 ± 59.2 h vs 123.8 ± 190.8 h; P = .005) and the length of postoperative ICU stay (10.1 ± 5.8 h vs 19.8 ± 28.9 h; P = .03) were longer among patients who had respiratory problems. Postoperative length of stay in the hospital (22.3 ± 12.5 d vs 30.3 ± 38.3 d; P = .75) was similar in the 2 groups. The overall mortality rate was 12.5% (n = 9). The patients who had respiratory problems did not show higher mortality than those who did not have respiratory problems (16.0% vs 10.6%; P = .71).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Respiratory complications were relatively common in our cohort of heart transplant recipients. However, these complications were mostly self-limiting and did not result in worse mortality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Faculty of Medicine, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey. Electronic address: acamkiran@gmail.com.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Camkiran Firat
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Faculty of Medicine, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Komurcu
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Faculty of Medicine, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zeyneloglu
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Faculty of Medicine, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Turker
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sezgin
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Faculty of Medicine, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pirat
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010996:Pleural Effusion / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001261:Pulmonary Atelectasis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011654:Pulmonary Edema / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012121:Respiration, Artificial / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012128:Respiratory Distress Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D015996:Survival Rate; D055815:Young Adult