Are Surveillance Endomyocardial Biopsies Necessary During Okt3 Induction Therapy?1

Abstract

Since 145 of 146 EMBs (99%) demonstrated no or minimal allograft rejection, a large cost savings could be realized if EMBs were performed only when clinically indicated during the 14-day OKT3 induction course in cardiac transplant recipients. Appropriate immunologic monitoring and echocardiographic testing may obviate the need for performing costly EMBs during OKT3 induction without an adverse clinical outcome.