In comparison with dietary measures alone, the combination of a low-cholesterol diet and simvastatin after heart transplantation led to a significant reduction in cholesterol levels, a significantly higher long-term survival rate, and a lower incidence of GVD.
CABG using both ITAs can be performed routinely with good clinical results and low mortality. Compared with single ITA grafting, sternal and bleeding complications were slightly increased. Diabetes mellitus, BITA grafting, duration of surgery but not obesity or COPD could be identified as independent risk factors for sternal complications. Dialysis-dependent renal failure, EF<30%, emergent cases, and the absence of BITA grafting were predictors for increased perioperative mortality.
The past 20 years have seen considerable advances in the field of organ transplantation that have together led to a notable increase in survival rates and a reduction in postoperative morbidity of transplant recipients. However, these advances have been accompanied by the appearance of other complications of transplantation, such as post-transplant hyperlipidaemia, hypertension and graft coronary vasculopathy (GCV). GCV is an accelerated form of atherosclerosis in transplanted hearts that has proven to be one of the most important late complications of heart transplantation and is the single most limiting factor for long-term survival. The most important factors favouring the development of hyperlipidaemia after heart transplantation are inappropriate diet in combination with reduced physical activity, adverse effects of immunosuppressive therapy (ciclosporin [cyclosporin], corticosteroids) and polygenic hypercholesterolaemia in combination with ischaemic cardiomyopathy. The treatment of hyperlipidaemia in heart transplant recipients results in a variety of complications and side effects. In particular, interactions between lipid-lowering drugs and immunosuppressive therapy have been observed. Early attempts at treatment with bile acid binding agents and nicotinic acid derivatives often proved insufficiently effective, and led to unacceptable adverse effects and significant disturbances of ciclosporin metabolism. Fibric acid derivatives provided moderate reductions in triglyceride and total cholesterol levels that were mostly--with the exception of gemfibrozil--accompanied by significant impairment of renal function. Probucol achieved only an unsatisfactory reduction in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. Omega-3 fatty acids lower cholesterol levels and improve endothelial function in heart transplant recipients; however, the significance of these effects is still under discussion. As in the general patient population, use of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) achieved significant reductions in cholesterol levels. Use of these substances has resulted in significantly extended long-term survival times, significantly less GCV and fewer severe graft rejections. Selective cholesterol absorption inhibitors, administered with or without statins, could provide another treatment option for heart transplant patients with hypercholesterolaemia. In severe familial hypercholesterolaemia, which is rarely observed in heart transplant recipients, treatment with statins can be combined with extracorporeal cholesterol elimination procedures such as heparin induced extracorporeal LDL cholesterol precipitation (HELP). HELP enables total cholesterol levels to be kept within any desired target range, and has been used successfully and without adverse effects in heart transplant recipients.
Statin therapy initiated in heart transplant patients early in the postoperative period plays an important role for better survival and lower incidence of transplant vasculopathy. The 11-year results of this study implicate that each heart transplant patient should receive early treatment with a statin as a matter of routine.
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