Echocardiographic changes after successful renal transplantation in young nondiabetic patients.

Eighteen young nondiabetic patients with chronic renal failure were studied by M-mode echocardiography before and three to 67 weeks after a successful renal transplant. Left ventricular mass (LVM), cardiac output (CO), and stroke work, which were increased before the operation, decreased afterward, in some cases to normal values. Both regression of the LVM and normalization of CO were detected as early as three weeks postoperatively and probably resulted from changes in the end-diastolic volume, mean systemic blood pressure, and hematocrit as a consequence of normal renal function. Because all the patients had normal left ventricular function and only moderate dilatation of the left ventricle, it is not known whether these striking beneficial changes after SRT also will occur in patients with significant dilatation or dysfunction of the left ventricle.