Cardiac allograft vasculopathy history and symptoms
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Aarti Narayan, M.B.B.S [2]; Raviteja Guddeti, M.B.B.S. [3]
Overview
Overview
Patients with cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) seldom present with typical angina symptoms due to cardiac denervation at the time of heart transplantation.
History and Symptoms
History and Symptoms
As mentioned above, patients with cardiac transplants do not typically present with anginal symptoms. About 10-30% of patients regain some renervation to the heart. Hence, they typically present late with the following manifestations.
- Graft failure
- Arrhythmias
- Silent myocardial infarction: Due to denervation at the time of surgery patients with CAV rarely present with typical angina symptoms, especially in the initial years of transplantation.[1] However, studies have demonstrated that re-innervation does occur late after heart transplantation.[2]
- Sudden death
The current practice is to routinely screen cardiac allograft recipients using conventional angiography or intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) as discussed in subsequent sections.
References
References
- ↑ Di Cori A, Petronio AS, Gemignani C, Zucchelli G, Di Bello V, Mariani M (2005). “Symptomatic acute myocardial infarction in a cardiac transplant recipient successfully treated with primary coronary angioplasty: evidence of prognostic importance of chest pain after cardiac transplantation”. J Heart Lung Transplant. 24 (8): 1146–9. doi:10.1016/j.healun.2004.07.003. PMID 16102462.
- ↑ Gallego-Page JC, Segovia J, Alonso-Pulpón L, Alonso-Rodríguez M, Salas C, Ortíz-Berrocal J (2004). “Re-innervation after heart transplantation: a multidisciplinary study”. J Heart Lung Transplant. 23 (6): 674–82. PMID 15366426.
Looking for the patient version?
© 2026 MyEClinic – IFTM Institut für Telematik in der Medizin GmbH