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Treatment of Cardiac Allograft Rejection

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The Transplantation and Replacement of Thoracic Organs

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Abstract

The development of the endomyocardial biopsy by Caves et al.[1] was one of the most important developments in the management of heart transplant recipients, and remains the gold standard today for the diagnosis of allograft rejection. Subsequent investigation has shown that a minimum of four and preferably five adequate pieces of endomyocardium are required to achieve satisfactory diagnostic accuracy[2]. The samples should be taken from as many different locations as possible for maximum sensitivity, a task perhaps made easier by use of echocardiography (versus fluoroscopy) to guide the bioptome and allow safe sampling from the anterior free wall and apex[3]–[3].

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Authors
  1. LW. Miller
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Transplantation Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston

    David K. C. Cooper MA, PhD, MD, MS, FRCS, FACC, FACS

  2. Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, USA

    David K. C. Cooper MA, PhD, MD, MS, FRCS, FACC, FACS

  3. St Louis University Health Sciences Center, St Louis, USA

    Leslie W. Miller MD, FACC

  4. Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, USA

    G. Alexander Patterson MD, FRCS(C), FACS

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© 1996 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Miller, L. (1996). Treatment of Cardiac Allograft Rejection. In: Cooper, D.K.C., Miller, L.W., Patterson, G.A. (eds) The Transplantation and Replacement of Thoracic Organs. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-34287-0_31

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-34287-0_31

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-8898-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-585-34287-0

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