Analysis of survivors more than 10 years after heart transplantation in the cyclosporine era: Stanford experience

Background: Truly long term survival post heart transplantation has become increasingly frequent over the past two decades. Methods: We analyzed multiple clinical outcomes in the cohort of 140 patients in the Stanford database who underwent heart transplantation after the introduction of cyclosporine-based immunosuppression in 1980 and survived >10 years after transplantation. Results: We found generally excellent functional status in these patients, but a high incidence of hypertension, renal dysfunction, and graft CAD as well as malignancy. Conclusion: With continued improvement in post-transplant survival rates, providing complex care for such long-term recipients as these will assume increasing clinical importance in the everyday practice of transplant medicine and these data highlight the problems to be anticipated.