Cor Vasa 2009, 51(6):415-418 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2009.106

The fate of patients surviving at 10 years after heart transplantation with a focus on the incidence of malignant disease

Lenka Špinarová^1,*, Petr Hude¹, Jan Krejčí¹, Hana Poloczková¹, Eva Ozábalová¹, Helena Bedáňová², Petr Němec², Jiří Ondrášek², Jan Černý², Jiří Vítovec¹

¹ I. interní kardioangiologická klinika, Fakultní nemocnice u sv. Anny v Brně a Lékařská fakulta Masarykovy univerzity

² Centrum kardiovaskulární a transplantační chirurgie, Brno, Česká republika

This is a review of 10-year survival of heart transplant recipients at Brno-based centers (Department of Medicine/Cardiology/Angiology I and Center of Cardiovascular and Transplant Surgery) with a focus on the incidence of malignant disease. A total of 95 patients had heart transplantation in the 1993-1997 period. Of this number, 16 died early within six months.
The analysis of 10-year survival included 79 patients. The 10-year survival rates of patients treated in 1993-1997 were 67%, 62%, 53%, 54%, and 74%, respectively. Causes of death were malignant disease in four cases (among these, three lymphomas), graft vasculopathy in five, sepsis in two, metabolic dysfunction in four, acute cellular rejection in three, and other in two cases. A rise in malignant disease occurs as the time since transplantation increases: another five patients died in years 11, 12, and 13 post-transplant: two had lymphoma, and there was one brain tumor, lung cancer, and colorectal cancer in one case each.
Heart transplantation is a method of treatment extending life and improving the quality of life of patients who would have previously died from end-stage heart failure.
On the other hand, long-term immunosuppression is associated with numerous side effects limiting the long-term survival of patients.

Keywords: Heart transplantation; Mortality; Chronic heart failure; Malignant disease

Published: June 1, 2009  Show citation