Exploring The Factors Associated With The Long-term Survival After Orthotopic Heart Transplantation

OBJECTIVE:To summarize the experiences of orthotopic hearttransplantation in one case and to explore the important factors that affects theresult of orthotopic heart transplantation.METHODS:In October26,2004one patient was underwent orthotopicheart transplantation at our hospital with diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy.The operative procedures was bicaval anastomotic cardiac transplantations, thecase was prescribed with Cyclosporine A+Corticosteroids+MMF. All clinicaldata of the case was collected and analyzed．RESULTS:The patient survived without infection or rejection. Duringfollow-up, the patient resumes daily work and is in heart function class of I(NYHA). The case has survived for6years with a rather good quality of life.CONCLUSION:Heart transplantation remains the most effectivetherapeutic modality for end-stage myocardiopathy. Our results of this studysuggest that better long-term survival is closely related to the following factors:accurate selection for recipient and operative procedures, better preservation ofdonor organs, rational employment of immunosuppression, and prompt treatment for infection and acute rejection during the immediate post-operativeperiod. More attention should be paid to surveillance and management of graftcoronary vasculopathy in the long-term follow-up.