Severity of Hypertension After Heart Transplant: Does It Impact Outcome?

Immunosuppressive Medication and Non-Rejection-Related Complications Following Heart Transplantation

Background: Although the clinical evolution of a patient with heart failure is initially improved by transplantation, a number of potential complications may occur in the post-transplant period, which may be directly related to the effects of chronic immunosuppression. The purpose of this study was to analyze the occurrence and frequency of post-transplant complications related to immunosuppressive treatment in the Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases and Transplantation of Târgu Mureș, Romania.

Material and methods: This is a descriptive study including 53 patients out of a total of 71 patients who underwent cardiac transplantation between 2000 and 2017 in the Institute of Cardiovascular Disease and Cardiac Transplantation in Târgu Mureș, Romania. Data were collected from the patient files and included demographic, clinical and laboratory data, as well as information about post-transplant complications related to immunosuppressive treatment.

Results: The mean age of patients undergoing heart transplantation was 40.72 ± 14.07 years, the majority of patients being male (84.91%) and living in an urban environment (56.60%). The average length of hospital stay was 33.6 days. From the total number of patients, 7 (13.2%) presented post-transplantation bacterial infections, while antibodies indicating the presence or history of B hepatitis, toxoplasma, and cytomegalovirus infection were identified with a relatively high incidence in the study population.

Conclusions: Infections following surgery are probably the most common post-transplant pathology, the primary reason being the administration of immunosuppressive medication.