Coronary Arteriopathy after Heart Transplantation

Purpose: To describe changes in the coronary artery following heart transplantation (HTx) in patients who survived for 1 year or more.Material and Methods: Yearly ventriculography and coronary angiography were performed in 171 out of 172 patients aged over 12 years who survived HTx in Norway for 1 year or more after the first operation in 1983. Mean follow-up was 5.2 years ±2.8, range 1–12.Results: Altogether 31 patients died in the follow-up period, 8 (26%) of them from coronary artery disease (CAD). Angiographic changes included coronary artery stenoses, diffuse changes with ectatic and narrowed segments of the major coronary vessels, peripheral changes with occlusions and tapering of the small vessels, and reduction in the left ventricular ejection fraction (EF). Significant stenosis developed in 43 patients and 19 of these developed an occlusion of one of the major coronary artery branches. the coronary arteries were without significant stenosis in 97% of the surviving 141 patients at 1 year after HTx...