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Prolonged corrected QT interval in the donor heart: Is there a risk?
Derek Leong1, Tamar Aintablian1, Michelle Kittleson1
1Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Insights
Donor hearts with a corrected QT (QTc) interval over 500 milliseconds are linked to increased early cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) after heart transplantation.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Transplantation Medicine
- Cardiac Electrophysiology
Background:
- Assessing donor QT interval is crucial for excluding long QT syndrome.
- A corrected QT (QTc) interval >500 milliseconds in donor hearts raises concerns.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate first-year post-transplant outcomes for recipients receiving hearts from donors with a QTc interval >500 milliseconds.
Main Methods:
- A cohort of 257 donor hearts with QTc >500 milliseconds were assessed between 2010-2014.
- Outcomes included 1-year survival, freedom from rejection, freedom from cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV), and freedom from major adverse cardiac events.
Main Results:
- Patients receiving hearts from donors with QTc >500 milliseconds had significantly lower 1-year freedom from CAV.
- Donor QTc >500 milliseconds was associated with a 6.7-fold increased risk of developing CAV (P=.029).
- Donors with QTc >500 milliseconds had a higher incidence of stroke or subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Conclusions:
- Donor QTc >500 milliseconds is an independent risk factor for early CAV post-heart transplantation.
- This association may be due to increased immunological risk.
Background:
Assessing the QT interval in donors is important to exclude long QT syndrome as the cause of death. A donor heart with a corrected QT (QTc ) >500 milliseconds is often concerning. We sought to evaluate first year outcomes for donors with a QTc interval >500 milliseconds.
Methods:
Between 2010 and 2014, we assessed 257 donor hearts for QTc interval >500 milliseconds. Post-transplant outcomes included 1-year survival, 1-year freedom from any-treated rejection, 1-year freedom from cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) defined as stenosis ≥30% by angiography, and 1-year freedom from nonfatal major adverse cardiac events.
Results:
Patients with QTc interval >500 milliseconds had a significantly lower 1-year freedom from CAV development. There were no significant differences for other outcomes. A significantly higher percentage of donors with QTc >500 milliseconds had a stroke or subarachnoid hemorrhage. Multivariate analysis found that donor QTc >500 milliseconds was associated with a 6.7-fold increased risk of developing CAV (P=.029, 95% CI 1.21-36.6) after adjusting for other known risk factors.
Conclusion:
QTc >500 milliseconds in the donor heart appears to be an independent risk factor for the development of early CAV after heart transplantation possibly due to a higher immunological risk.
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