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. 2023 Jun 7;85(7):3531-3537.
doi: 10.1097/MS9.0000000000000942. eCollection 2023 Jul.

Coronary allograft vasculopathy in post-heart transplant patients: pathogenesis and role of cardiac computed tomography in diagnosis-a comprehensive review

Vagisha Sharma  1 , Siddharth Agarwal  2 , Tanvi Grover  1 , Anureet Malhotra  3 , Harendra Kumar  4 , Diksha M Gowda  5 , Yash Agarwal  6 , Hitesh Bhatia  7 , Samrat Babu Koirala  8 , Satinder P Singh  9
Affiliations

Coronary allograft vasculopathy in post-heart transplant patients: pathogenesis and role of cardiac computed tomography in diagnosis-a comprehensive review

Vagisha Sharma et al. Ann Med Surg (Lond). .

Abstract

Coronary allograft vasculopathy, often known as cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV), is a substantial source of morbidity and mortality in people who have had heart transplants. Early detection and monitoring of CAV are crucial for improving outcomes in this population. Although cardiac computed tomography (CT) has emerged as a possible method for finding and evaluating CAV, invasive coronary angiography has long been thought of as the gold standard for recognizing CAV. This study focuses on the utility of cardiac CT for CAV diagnosis and treatment in the post-heart transplant population. It provides an overview of recent studies on the application of cardiac CT in CAV and highlights the advantages and disadvantages of this imaging modality. The potential application of cardiac CT for CAV risk assessment and care is also examined in the study. Overall, the data point to a potential role for cardiac CT in the detection and treatment of CAV in post-heart transplant patients. It enables evaluation of the whole coronary tree and low-radiation, high-resolution imaging of the coronary arteries. Hence, further study is required to determine how best to employ cardiac CT in treating CAV in this group.

Keywords: cardiac imaging; computed tomography; coronary allograft vasculopathy; heart transplant.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pathogenesis of post-heart transplant coronary allograft vasculopathy.
Figure 2
Figure 2
An illustration of the use of cardiac CT in coronary allograft vasculopathy. CT, computed tomography.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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