Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy: Real or a Normal Morphologic Variant?

Cardiac allograft vasculopathy: a review.

Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is a major factor limiting long-term survival after cardiac transplantation. CAV is an accelerated form of coronary artery disease (CAD) that is characterized by concentric fibrous intimal hyperplasia along the length of coronary vessels. Both immunologic and nonimmunologic risk factors contribute to the development of CAV by causing endothelial dysfunction ...

Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy: A Donor or Recipient Induced Pathology?

Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is one of the main causes of late-stage heart failure after heart transplantation. CAV is characterized by concentric luminal narrowing of the coronary arteries, but the exact pathogenesis of CAV is still not unraveled. Many researchers show evidence of an allogeneic immune response of the recipient, whereas others show contrasting results in which donor-der...

Cardiac allograft vasculopathy: recent developments.

Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) continues to limit the long-term success of cardiac transplantation. Recent insights have underscored the fact that innate and adaptive immune responses are involved in the pathogenesis of CAV. Vascular lesions are the result of cumulative endothelial injuries induced both by alloimmune responses and by nonspecific insults (including ischemia-reperfusion inj...

Coronary stenting in cardiac allograft vasculopathy.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to evaluate acute angiographic success, in-hospital complications and long-term outcome after intracoronary stenting in patients with cardiac allograft vasculopathy. BACKGROUND The application of conventional interventional modalities to treat discrete lesions in patients with cardiac allograft vasculopathy is associated with higher procedural morbidity...

Angioplasty versus stenting for cardiac allograft vasculopathy