Korean J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg.  2009 Dec;42(6):719-724.

Surgical Complications in Heart Transplant Recipients: A Single Center Experience

• Park KY
• Park CH
• Jeon YB
• Choi CH
• Lee JI

Abstract

BACKGROUND
As the patients who undergo heart transplantation have achieved better survival in recent years, a growing number of recipients are at a risk for experiencing surgical complications in addition to rejection and infection. In this paper, we report on our experience with the surgical complications that occurred in heart transplant recipients. MATERIAL AND METHOD: From April 1994 to September 2003, 37 heart transplantations were performed at our center by a single surgeon. The indications for transplantation were dilated cardiomyopathy, ischemic cardiomyopathy, valvular cardiomyopathy and familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. RESULT: Twenty postoperative complications required surgeries in 15 patients (41%). The types of operations required were; redo-sternotomy for bleeding (5), pericardiostomy for effusion (4), implantation of a permanent pacemaker (1), right lower lobe lobectomy for aspergilloma (1), removal of urinary stone (1), cholecystectomy for gall bladder stone (1), drainage of a perianal abscess (1), paranasal sinus drainage (1), total hip replacement (1), partial gingivectomy due to gingival hypertrophy (1), urethrostomy (1), herniated intervertebral disc operation (1) and total hysterectomy for myoma uteri (1). The locations of the complications were mediastinal in 10 (27%) cases and extramediastinal in 10 (27%) cases.
CONCLUSION
The relatively high incidence of extrathoracic complications associated with heart transplantation emphasizes the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to the improve long-term survival when managing those complex patients.

Keyword

Heart transplantation; Complication

MeSH Terms

Abscess
Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip
Cardiomyopathies
Cardiomyopathy, Dilated
Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic, Familial
Cholecystectomy
Drainage
Gingival Hypertrophy
Gingivectomy
Heart
Heart Transplantation
Hemorrhage
Humans
Hysterectomy
Incidence
Intervertebral Disc
Myoma
Pericardial Window Techniques
Postoperative Complications
Rejection (Psychology)
Transplants
Urinary Bladder Calculi
Urinary Calculi
Uterus