Primary graft dysfunction does not lead to increased cardiac allograft vasculopathy in surviving patients.

Objective: Early injury is associated with the development of cardiac allograft vasculopathy in heart transplantation. We examined whether adult heart transplant recipients surviving primary graft dysfunction were more susceptible to the development of cardiac allograft vasculopathy than their nonprimary graft dysfunction counterparts.

Methods: A total of 857 patients who underwent heart transplantation between January 1994 and December 2008 at our institution were reviewed.