Echocardiographic indexes of allograft rejection in pediatric cardiac transplant recipients.

To determine the usefulness of echocardiographic indexes of left ventricular (LV) function as possible predictors of cardiac rejection, 12 transplant recipients (ages 3 to 17 years) underwent a total of 52 serial echocardiographic examinations and cardiac biopsies. The results were compared to those of 12 normal children (ages 2 to 17 years). Biopsies were graded as no rejection (n = 23), mild rejection (cellular infiltrate, n = 13), and moderate rejection (myocyte necrosis, n = 16). LV dimensions, percent shortening fraction, indexed LV mass, and ejection fraction were measured from M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiography. From the mitral valve Doppler tracing, the following measurements were made: isovolumic relaxation time, peak E and peak A velocities, and the fraction of filling under the E and A waves as well as in the first third of diastole. Compared with normal subjects, transplant recipients with no rejection had higher heart rates (95 +/- 15 vs 80 +/- 17 beats/min), longer isovolumic relaxation time (68.8 +/- 11.2 vs 51.5 +/- 13.6 msec), decreased first third area fraction (0.48 +/- 0.10 vs 0.57 +/- 0.10), and similar shortening fraction, LV mass, and peak E and A velocities (p less than 0.03). Compared with transplant recipients with no rejection, patients in whom mild rejection developed also had decreased shortening fraction (31% +/- 10% vs 37% +/- 8%) and decreased peak E velocity (0.68 +/- 0.19 vs 0.88 +/- 0.15 m/s) (p less than 0.03). From mild to moderate rejection, no further changes were noted in any echocardiographic indexes measured.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)