Complicaciones crónicas del trasplante cardiaco: Implicaciones clínicas y estrategias futuras / Chronic complications in cardiac transplantation: Clinical implications and future strategies

Chronic complications are situations which limit the long-term utility of cardiac transplantation. The allograft vasculopathy is the most important cause of death at 5 years alter transplantation. Another conditions are systemic arterial hypertension, nephropathies, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemies and malignant neoplasies. The present manuscript summarizes the characteristics, clinical presentation and therapeutic strategies for this conditions.

Las complicaciones crónicas asociadas al trasplante cardiaco son situaciones que limitan la utilidad a largo plazo de este procedimiento. Dentro de ellas destaca la vasculopatía del injerto que constituye la primera causa de muerte a cinco años del trasplante. Otras situaciones incluyen la hipertensión arterial sistémica, la enfermedad renal, la diabetes mellitus de novo, las dislipidemias y las neoplasias. En el presente trabajo se resumen algunas de las características, causas, presentación clínica y estrategias de manejo de estas situaciones.

Analise dos fatores de risco da doença vascular do enxerto em pacientes assintomáticos após transplante cardíaco / Analysis of the risk factors for allograft vasculopathy in asymptomatic patients after cardiac transplantation

OBJECTIVE: To study the influence of immune and nonimmune risk factors on the development of allograft vasculopathy after cardiac transplantation. METHODS: We studied 39 patients with a mean age of 46 + or - 12 years. The following variables were analyzed: weight (kg), body mass index (kg/m²), donor's age and sex, rejection episodes in the first and second years after transplantation, systolic and diastolic blood pressures (mmHg), total cholesterol and fractions (mg/dL), triglycerides (mg/dL), diabetes, and cytomegalovirus infection. The presence of allograft vasculopathy was established through coronary angiography. RESULTS: Allograft vasculopathy was observed in 15 (38 percent) patients. No statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups in regard to hypertension, cytomegalovirus infection, diabetes, donor's sex and age, rejection episodes in the first and second years after transplantation, and cholesterol levels. We observed a tendency toward higher levels of triglycerides in the group with disease. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed statistically significant differences between the two groups when we analyzed the body mass index (24.53 + or - 4.3 versus 28.11 + or - 4.6; p=0.019). CONCLUSION: Body mass index was an important marker of allograft vasculopathy in the population studied

Caracterizacao de cepas do Trypanosoma cruzi isoladas de doencas nos quais foi realizado transplante de coracao / Caracterization of Trypanosoma cruzi strains isolated from patients with heart transplantation

Tres cepas do Trypanosoma cruzi foram isoladas de pacientes com doenca de Chagas cronica, receptores de coracao por meio de transplante. Houve a caracterizacao dela atraves de modelo experimental baseado no emprego de camundongos, com avaliacao de parasitismo, mortalidade e intensidade da inflamacao no coracao, alem de analise do grau de parasitismo nesse orgao. Como controle, teve lugar comparacao com o comportamento da ja bem conhecida cepa Y. Ficaram caracterizadas atuacoes diferentes das cepas, ao serem valorizados os parametros citados, sem correlacao rigorosa com as evolucoes pos-transplantes, que sofrem a influencia de varios fatores, entre os quais podem estar particularidades vinculadas ao parasitismo.