Significance of donor transmitted disease in cardiac transplantation

Abstract

Infectious complications constitute a major cause of morbidity and mortality after heart transplantation. Those infections transmitted with the transplanted heart are potentially avoidable. Cytomegalovirus infections and toxoplasmosis occupy a prominent position in this category. The outcome of transplanting hearts from donors previously exposed to these infections depends largely on the existing immune status of the recipient. This paper is a retrospective study on the incidence of Toxoplasma gondii and cytomegalovirus infections in patients undergoing heart and heart-lung transplantation at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge.