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.

Fatty infiltration of right ventricle (adipositas cordis): an unrecognized cause of early graft failure after cardiac transplantation.

Krishnamani R, Nawgiri RS, Konstam MA, Warner KG, Salomon RN, DeNofrio D

Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston, MA 02111, USA.

Fatty infiltration of the right ventricle is usually an incidental finding at post-mortem, but may have clinical significance at times of physiologic stress. We report a case of fatal right ventricular dysfunction immediately after cardiac transplantation secondary to massive fatty infiltration of the donor right ventricle. Ante-mortem diagnosis of fatty infiltration may be difficult to determine despite non-invasive cardiac evaluation. If the diagnosis of fatty infiltration is suspected at time of donor harvest, the relative risks and benefits of proceeding with transplantation should be carefully assessed.

Published 16 August 2005 in J Heart Lung Transplant, 24(8): 1143-5.
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