Rheumatoid course of humoral (vascular) rejection after heart allotransplantation.

Analysis of planned endomyocardial biopsy specimens of heart allotransplants from 22 recipients revealed signs of humoral type rejection (slight, medium, and severe) presenting as fixation of IgG, IgM, and complement components (C3, C4d) in 61 of 63 sections. Permanent presence of rejection signs attests to rheumatoid course of this process.

[The peculiarities of bone exchange disorder and its regulation in men after long terms following orthotopic heart transplantation and cadaveric kidney transplantation].

The study found bone exchange disorder manifested by accelerated bone resorption, retarded bone formation, and the loss of the bone mineral density (BMD) of the axial and peripheral skeleton in 19 men (39 observations) 66 +/- 44 months following orthotopic heart transplantation (OTHT) and in 92 men 45 +/- 28 months after cadaveric kidney transplantation. An accelerated bone resorption, more pronounced in cadaveric kidney (CK) recipients, is associated with hyperparathyroidism (HPT) and renal dysfunction, while bone formation retardation is associated with a decrease in insulin-like growth factor-1 level. An increase in osteoprotegerin level is of compensatory character.

[Vasculopathy of the grafted heart: the synergism of proinflammatory and proatherogenous factors and viral infection].

The authors analyze the pathogenetic significance of hyperhomocysteinemia, antiphospholipid syndrome, the hyperexpression of cell adhesion molecules, inflammation, and oxidative disorders for, as well as the role of viral infections in the development of coronary artery disease of the grafted heart. The paper shows that viral infections in recipients lead to the development of proinflammatory, proatherogenous, and prothrombogenous status, expressing themselves in an increase in the corresponding laboratory markers in recipients' blood plasma, and points out the role of viral infection in the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease of the transplanted heart. Control and treatment of viral infections, as well as pharmacocorrection of proinflammatory, proatherogenous, and prothrombogenous status would made it possible to influence the development of coronary artery disease of the grafted heart.

Immunohistochemical Investigation of the Heart Allograft Myocardium (1991-1998).

What is a contribution of the humoral (vascular) and mixed type of the rejection episodes to all the episodes of heart allograft rejection is not quite clear, though this factor is of considerable importance for the choice of the treatment methods. The hearts from recipients, as well as endomyocardial biopsies of the heart allografts and postmortem material were investigated with the aim to determine the immunopathological process. Overall, 420 samples from 80 patients were analyzed.

Surgical treatment of patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy: the significance of right ventricular function.

Background: Patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICMP) awaiting heart transplantation (HT) have a high mortality rate, in part because of the lack of donor organs. Given this limitation, we propose to broaden the indications for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in this group and to more accurately select patients with ICMP requiring myocardial revascularization or HT. In this study, we assessed the short and long-term results of CABG in patients with ICMP.

[Humoral immunopathologic changes in the myocardium after clinical allotransplantation of the heart].

Endomyocardial diagnostic biopsies, recipient heart removed at operation, endomyocardial biopsies of allotransplants and postmortem material were studied using immunofluorescence to specify immunopathological process and to detect humoral rejection. Altogether 306 samples from 55 patients were studied. In the early postoperative period (one year) 8 out of 18 patients with heart transplants repeatedly showed immunopathologic picture of acute humoral (vascular) rejection which was characterized by a widespread immunoglobulin G and complement fixation in the capillary walls accompanied by enhanced capillary permeability and fibrin deposition in intestitial tissue.

[Indicators of bicycle ergometry after heart transplantation].

Exercise tolerance in postcardiac transplantation patients versus healthy controls was studied at different intervals after the surgery using bicycle ergometry. Being low after the transplantation, exercise tolerance in the patients increased throughout the rehabilitation period but still did not reach the values characteristic for healthy subjects. Initial heart rate in the above patients was higher, while chronotropic and inotropic reserves of the transplanted heart appeared lower than in the controls.

[The dynamics of the heart contraction rate and arterial pressure during physical loading after a heart transplant].

Compared to healthy controls, patients with transplanted heart have higher baseline heart rate (HR), delayed initial HR reaction, slower changes of HR both during exercise and after it, diminished chronotropic and inotropic reserves. The data obtained contribute to better understanding of physiology of transplanted denervated heart and objective assessment of patients after heart transplantation.

[Anesthesiological management in transplantation of the heart after temporary mechanical substitution of its function].

The first experience of anesthesiological management of three two-step orthotopic heart transplantations is reviewed. As the first step of surgical treatment one recipient was implanted an artificial heart "POISK-IOM" (Russia), in 2 other patients left ventricular bypass was achieved using a "Biopump" ("Biomedics", USA). Anesthesia techniques, methods of infusion-transfusion therapy, and other components of intraoperative management are described.

[The hemodynamics of the lesser circulation before and after heart transplantation in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy].

Studies of the lesser circulation hemodynamics in 150 patients with dilatation cardiomyopathy and in 15 after heart transplantation revealed secondary postcapillary pulmonary hypertension of more than 60 mm Hg in cases with dilatation cardiomyopathy with systolic pressure in the pulmonary artery (SPPA) in 30% of patients, transpulmonary gradient (TPG) of more than 15 mm Hg and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) or more than 4 Wood's U in 15.3% of patients. Two stages of pulmonary hypertension in dilatation cardiomyopathy should be singled out: I with SPPA of 60 mm Hg, TPG of 15 mm Hg, and PVR of less than 4 Wood's U, and II with SPPA of more than 60 mm Hg, TPG of more than 15 mm Hg, and PVR of more than 4 Wood's U.

[Echocardiographic diagnosis of acute rejection of transplanted heart].

Comparing echocardiographic parameters with endomyocardial biopsy findings in 6 patients with acute crises of mild, moderate, and severe graft rejections and in 2 patients with persistent acute rejection crisis has shown that there are decreases in end-diastolic size and left ventricular end-diastolic ejection fraction volume, an increase in left ventricular myocardial mass, and thickening of the left ventricular posterior wall and ventricular septum, as evidenced by ultrasonic study. Such changes are detected in moderate and severe acute crises of graft rejection. Normalization of ultrasonic parameters of the grafted heart occurs 2-3 weeks after abolition of rejection crisis.

[Morphohistochemical characteristics of heart myocardiocytes under profound donor hypothermia].

Hearts of 52 pups were studied histochemically and electron-microscopically at various stages of total-body hypothermia. The dependence of the myocardiocyte metabolic alterations on the factors acting in the myocardium during different stages of hypothermia and during subsequent warming is shown. The vitality of the cooled heart is largely determined by retaining not only of its function, but by its anatomo-physiological links with the organism.

[Immunopathologic study of the myocardium in dilated cardiomyopathy].

Myocardial tissues of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy were studied by immunofluorescence. While immunoglobulin A fixation was observed in myocardial capillary wall and cardiomyocyte sarcolemma in the majority of patients (11 of 12), immunoglobulin G and C3 complement component were a rare finding. In the vessel wall of heart allografts immunoglobulin A fixation occurred 3-6 days after transplantation.

[Surgical tactics in patients with ischemic heart disease, extensive cicatricial myocardial lesions and circulatory insufficiency].

The article discusses the results of surgical treatment of patients suffering from ischemic heart disease with extensive cicatricial affections of the myocardium and circulatory insufficiency. Thirteen patients of group I were treated by various reconstructive operations (resection of an aneurysm, formation of an aortocoronary shunt, septoplasty), 10 patients of group 2 underwent orthotopic heart transplantation. Perioperative and long-term (up to 3 years) mortality rates were, respectively, 7.

Clinical indications for the use of the "Poisk-IOM" total artificial heart: the experience of 13 implantations in humans.

Success of total artificial heart (TAH) implantation as a temporary measure depends on three factors: proper patient selection, adequate surgical technique, and safe cardiac prostheses. From 1986 until March 1990, 237 patients with stagnant heart failure were examined. Sixty-one patients (27%) were put on a waiting list.

[Arrhythmia in patients after heart transplantation].

Holter monitoring was performed in 15 patients surviving over 3 months after homotopic cardiac transplantation. The frequency and types of arrhythmias occurring in the grafted innervated heart were studied according to its postoperative period duration. The follow-up lasted 3 to 29 months.

[Infectious complications following heart transplantation].

The work analyses infectious complications after 35 orthotopic transplantations of the heart. The infectious complications are divided into 2 groups. Group 1 consisted of 6 patients with local complications.

[Chronic rejection of a transplanted heart].

Three cases of chronic rejection occurring 7.5, 10, and 24 months after transplantation of the heart are analysed. The clinical features of chronic rejection in the late-term periods after transplantation of the heart are discussed.

[Clinical use of artificial heart ventricles].

The article discusses the results of applying for the first time Soviet-made "Modul" and "Yasen" artificial ventricles of the heart (AVH) in a left ventricular bypass regimen in patients with refractory cardiac insufficiency. Improvement of AVH design and rational tactics of attendant drug therapy allowed the period of the safe application of the AVH in the organism to be increased to more than 8 days.

[Heart transplantation. The current problems of patient selection, examination and treatment].

An analysis was made of the work carried out by the Department of Coronary Surgery and Heart Transplantation as regards heart transplantations during 1988. As many as 119 patients, hypothetical heart recipients, received medical advice. The Department refused hospitalization to 42 patients because of the nonconformity to the indications and contraindications to heart transplantation.