Heart Transplant Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Heart Transplant, including details on risks, prognosis, procedure, surgery, organ donation.

Heart transplantation in a 68-year-old patient with senile systemic amyloidosis.

Fuchs U, Zittermann A, Suhr O, Holmgren G, Tenderich G, Minami K, Koerfer R

Heart Center North-Rhine Westfalia, Department of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, Ruhr University of Bochum, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany. ufuchs@hdz-nrw.de

Senile systemic amyloidosis (SSA) results from deposition, predominantly in the heart, of amyloid fibrils derived from wild-type transthyretin (T TR) molecules. Cardiac autopsies indicate that SSA progressively increases in subjects 80 years of age and older. However, only a few cases of patients with SSA and cardiac failure have been recognized by cardiac biopsies during life. Here, we report a case of heart transplantation in a 68-year-old male patient with SSA. After cardiopulmonary resuscitation in October 1998, he underwent complete evaluation. Myocardial biopsies revealed the presence of amyloid deposition. Immunohistochemical staining of the amyloid indicated T TR. Genomic DNA analysis of the T TR exons did not result in any identification of a mutation. In 2001, heart transplantation was performed because progressive heart failure occurred. At the 1-year follow-up, no amyloid deposits were found in the donor heart. At the 2-year follow-up, the patient's physical and mental health was excellent. We conclude that heart transplantation can be an effective treatment in progressive heart failure due to SSA.

Published 8 April 2005 in Am J Transplant, 5(5): 1159-62.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2008 Heart Transplant Research Today. All Rights Reserved.