The role of intramyocardial electrocardiogram for diagnosis of acute rejection after heart transplantation

Deniz Çevirme,

doi:10.5606/tgkdc.dergisi.2012.192

Deniz Çevirme¹, Semih Buz², Cengiz Köksal³

¹Ahi Evren Göğüs Kalp ve Damar Cerrahisi Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, Kalp ve Damar Cerrahisi Kliniği, Trabzon, Türkiye
²Berlin Alman Kalp Enstitüsü, Kalp ve Damar Cerrahisi Kliniği, Berlin, Almanya
³Kartal Koşuyolu Yüksek İhtisas Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, Kalp ve Damar Cerrahisi Kliniği, İstanbul, Türkiye

DOI : 10.5606/tgkdc.dergisi.2012.192

Acute rejection is one of the critical complications of heart transplantation. Early diagnosis and treatment of acute rejection following heart transplantation prevent the graft rejection and improve the survival rate. Currently, right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) is considered the gold standard for the diagnosis of acute cardiac rejection. However, it is far from being comfortable method for the patients due its complicated implication technique and invasive nature. About 5-6% of the patients die within the first year of heart transplantation due to undiagnosed rejection or late diagnosis using biopsy technique. Intramyocardial cellular voltage amplitude measurement can be used as a noninvasive method for the diagnosis of and treatment of early acute rejection after heart transplantation.

Keywords : Acute rejection; electrocardiogram; heart transplantation

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