Abstract
Serial two-dimensional echocardiograms were obtained in a control group (5 normal volunteers) and in 10 hospitalized cardiac allograft recipients. ANOVA in the control group indicated that an echocardiographic left ventricular mass increase of 18 g was a significant (p < 0.05) change in successive measurements. In allograft recipients, the onset of rejection was documented on 12 occasions by endomyocardial biopsy. These events were retrospectively correlated with echocardiographic data. In 8 of the 12 episodes, left ventricular mass increased, but the increase exceeded 18 g only twice. The coefficient of variation of mass and ejection fraction increased (p < 0.05) in 3 patients with fatal rejection compared to controls, indicating increased data scatter with rejection. Overall left ventricular mass increased with rejection from 163 ± 23 g to 170 ± 23 g (p < 0.05) but was unchanged with the resolution of rejection. The left ventricular mass-volume ratio increased from 1.04 ± .08 controls to 1.39 ± .16 in patients with moderate rejection and to 1.76 ± .48 in patients who died of rejection (p < 0.05). We conclude that left ventricular mass variation is an important characteristic of cardiac transplant rejection in humans. Improved noninvasive measurements of left ventricular mass is needed to derive clinical benefit from these observations.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 55-66 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Journal of Cardiovascular Ultrasonography |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| State | Published - 1988 |
| Externally published | Yes |