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. 2019 Jul;39(7):1363-1371.
doi: 10.1111/liv.14092. Epub 2019 Mar 26.

The relationship between coronary artery disease and cardiovascular events early after liver transplantation

Samarth S Patel  1 , Fei-Pi Lin  2 , Viviana A Rodriguez  3 , Chandra Bhati  4 , Binu V John  1   5 , Taylor Pence  2 , Mohammad B Siddiqui  1 , Adam P Sima  3 , Antonio Abbate  6 , Trevor Reichman  4 , Mohammad S Siddiqui  1
Affiliations

The relationship between coronary artery disease and cardiovascular events early after liver transplantation

Samarth S Patel et al. Liver Int. 2019 Jul.

Abstract

Background & aims: Cardiovascular complications are major contributors to mortality at liver transplantation (LT). However, the impact of coronary artery disease (CAD) on these complications is not well-understood as the literature is limited by non-invasive assessment of CAD, which is suboptimal in patients with cirrhosis. Thus, the current study evaluated cardiovascular events at LT stratified according to the presence and severity of CAD quantified on coronary angiography.

Methods: All patients who had LT from January 2010 to January 2017 were evaluated (N = 348), but analysis was restricted to patients who had coronary angiography prior to LT (N = 283). Protocol coronary angiography was performed in all patients' ages >50 years, history of CAD, abnormal cardiac stress test or risk factors for CAD. The primary outcome was a cardiovascular composite outcome including myocardial infraction (MI), cardiac arrest, stroke, cardiac death, heart failure or arrhythmia occurring within 4 weeks after LT.

Results: CAD was present in 92(32.5%) patients and 32(11.3%) had obstructive CAD. During the study period, 72(25.4%) patients met the primary cardiovascular outcome, the most common being arrhythmia (N = 59 or 20.8%). Non-ST elevation MI occurred in 11(3.9%) of patients. A total of 10 deaths (3.5%) occurred, of which 6(2.1%) were attributable to cardiac death. There was no evidence of a relationship between the presence and severity of CAD and composite cardiovascular events. In multiple regression modelling, only diabetes [OR 2.62, 95%CI (1.49, 4.64), P < 0.001] was associated with the likelihood of having a cardiovascular event.

Conclusion: Cardiovascular disease mortality is the most important contributor of early mortality after LT but is not related to the severity of CAD.

Keywords: cardiovascular events; cirrhosis; coronary artery disease; liver transplantation.

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Conflict of interest statement

All the authors of the manuscript certify that they have NO conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Prevalence of coronary artery disease by etiology of chronic liver disease
Figure 2A:
Figure 2A:
Cardiac events at time of liver transplantation stratified according to severity of coronary artery disease
Figure 2B:
Figure 2B:
Individual cardiac events stratified according to severity of coronary artery disease
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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