Skip to main content
PMC home page
British Heart Journal logoLink to British Heart Journal
. 1982 Dec;48(6):584–588. doi: 10.1136/hrt.48.6.584

Sinus node function in first three weeks after cardiac transplantation.

A F Mackintosh, D J Carmichael, C Wren, R Cory-Pearce, T A English
PMCID: PMC482753  PMID: 6756446

Abstract

Donor sinus node function was studied in 10 patients from day 4 to day 24 after cardiac transplantation. Cycle length, atrial arrhythmias, corrected sinus node recovery time, and estimated sinoatrial conduction time were recorded daily. Five patients had at least two sets of results suggesting sinus node dysfunction (group A) while five patients had no such abnormalities (group B). The prognosis in group A was poor, with four of the five patients dying within four months of the operation; one unexpected death from arrhythmias was recorded by ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring. All five patients in group B survived for at least eight months. In nine patients sinus node function varied from day to day, with corrected sinus node recovery time reaching a peak at 11 to 18 days after operation. The longest corrected sinus node recovery time was 11 160 ms. Neither the differences between the patients, nor the day to day variation, could be explained solely by the degree of rejection as assessed by biopsy or by the ischaemia time of the heart during procurement. Sinus node dysfunction soon after transplantation is associated with a poorer prognosis and might be the terminal event in some cases.

Full text

PDF

Images in this article

586Image
on p.586
587Image
on p.587

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bieber C. P., Stinson E. B., Shumway N. E. Pathology of the conduction system in cardiac rejection. Circulation. 1969 May;39(5):567–575. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.39.5.567. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Cannom D. S., Graham A. F., Harrison D. C. Electrophysiological studies in the denervated transplanted human heart. Response to trial pacing and atropine. Circ Res. 1973 Feb;32(2):268–278. doi: 10.1161/01.res.32.2.268. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Cannom D. S., Rider A. K., Stinson E. B., Harrison D. C. Electrophysiologic studies in the denervated transplanted human heart. II. Response to norepinephrine, isoproterenol and propranolol. Am J Cardiol. 1975 Dec;36(7):859–866. doi: 10.1016/0002-9149(75)90074-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. English T. A., Cooper D. K., Cory-Pearce R. Recent experience with heart transplantation. Br Med J. 1980 Sep 13;281(6242):699–702. doi: 10.1136/bmj.281.6242.699. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Goodman D. J., Rossen R. M., Ingham R., Rider A. K., Harrison D. C. Sinus node function in the denervated human heart. Effect of digitalis. Br Heart J. 1975 Jun;37(6):612–618. doi: 10.1136/hrt.37.6.612. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Lien W. P., Lee Y. S., Chang F. Z., Lee S. Y., Chen C. M., Tsai H. C. The sick sinus syndrome: natural history of dysfunction of the sinoatrial node. Chest. 1977 Nov;72(5):628–634. doi: 10.1378/chest.72.5.628. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Lower R. R., Dong E., Jr, Glazener F. S. Electrocardiograms of dogs with heart homografts. Circulation. 1966 Mar;33(3):455–460. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.33.3.455. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Mason J. W. Overdrive suppression in the transplanted heart: effect of the autonomic nervous system on human sinus node recovery. Circulation. 1980 Oct;62(4):688–696. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.62.4.688. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Mason J. W., Stinson E. B., Harrison D. C. Autonomic nervous system and arrhythmias: studies in the transplanted denervated human heart. Cardiology. 1976;61(1):75–87. doi: 10.1159/000169749. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Narula O. S., Shantha N., Vasquez M., Towne W. D., Linhart J. W. A new method for measurement of sinoatrial conduction time. Circulation. 1978 Oct;58(4):706–714. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.58.4.706. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Rokseth R., Hatle L. Prospective study on the occurrence and management of chronic sinoatrial disease, with follow-up. Br Heart J. 1974 Jun;36(6):582–587. doi: 10.1136/hrt.36.6.582. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Schroeder J. S., Berke D. K., Graham A. F., Rider A. K., Harrison D. C. Arrhythmias after cardiac transplantation. Am J Cardiol. 1974 May 6;33(5):604–607. doi: 10.1016/0002-9149(74)90249-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Schroeder J. S. Current status of cardiac transplantation, 1978. JAMA. 1979 May 11;241(19):2069–2071. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Stinson E. B., Dong E., Jr, Iben A. B., Shumway N. E. Cardiac transplantation in man. 3. Surgical aspects. Am J Surg. 1969 Aug;118(2):182–187. doi: 10.1016/0002-9610(69)90118-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Stinson E. B., Griepp R. B., Schroeder J. S., Dong E., Jr, Shumway N. E. Hemodynamic observations one and two years after cardiac transplantation in man. Circulation. 1972 Jun;45(6):1183–1194. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.45.6.1183. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Heart Journal are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES