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.

Experience of percutaneous coronary intervention in the management of pediatric cardiac allograft vasculopathy.

Tham EB, Yeung AC, Cheng CW, Bernstein D, Chin C, Feinstein JA

Division of Pediatric Cardiology at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.

In a retrospective study, we examined the procedural success rate and the short-, intermediate-, and long-term outcomes of coronary interventional procedures in children with cardiac allograft vasculopathy. Seven patients underwent 13 interventional procedures: balloon angioplasty alone (n = 3), angioplasty with stenting (n = 9), or angioplasty with brachytherapy (n = 1), with procedural success in all. Two major complications (cardiac arrest) and a single death occurred in the immediate postprocedural period. Five (83%) of the remaining 6 patients developed moderate to severe restenosis, diffuse disease, or progressive vasculopathy; 3 have been retransplanted, 1 died from progressive cardiac allograft vasculopathy, and 1 is awaiting retransplantation, 40 months after the procedure.

Published 13 June 2005 in J Heart Lung Transplant, 24(6): 769-73.
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