Evaluating the Effects of Time From Brain Death and Type of Inotrope Usage on Result of Heart Transplant: Results of 1-Year Follow-Up.

Objectives: Heart transplant is the most effective treatment in patients with advanced heart failure who are refractory to medical treatment. The brain death interval and type of inotrope We assessed the effects of these parameters on heart transplant outcomes.

Materials And Methods: In this follow-up study, we followed heart transplant recipients for 1 year to study patient survival, ejection fraction, adverse events, and organ rejection. We evaluated follow-up results on time from brainstem death test to the cross-clamp placement, as well as the type of inotrope used.

Results: Our study enrolled 54 heart transplant candidates. The inotrope dose was 3.66 ± 0.99 μg/kg/min, and the most used inotrope, with 28 cases (51.9%), was related to dopamine. Six cases (11.1%) of death and 1 case of infection after transplant were observed in recipients. The average ejection fraction of transplanted hearts before transplant, instantly at time of transplant, and 1 month, 6 months, and 1 year after transplant was 54.9 ± 0.68, 52.9 ± 10.4, 51.9 ± 10.7, 50.1 ± 10.9, and 46.8 ± 17, respectively; this decreasing trend over time was significant (P =.001). Furthermore, ejection fraction changes following transplant did not differ significantly in transplanted hearts regarding brain death interval and type of inotrope used.

Conclusions: Our study revealed that cardiac output of a transplanted heart may decrease over time and the time elapsed from brain death, and both dopamine and norepinephrine could have negligible effects on cardiac function.