[Biochemical studies of the assessment of transplant function following clinical heart transplantation--initial...

Average and specific individual courses of the following parameters are reported in this paper, with reference being made to eight of eleven clinical heart transplantations so far performed at the authors' department: lactate, pyruvate, myoglobin, ASAT, ALAT, GGT, CK, CK-MB, LDH, LDH-1, and glycogen phosphorylase. Glycogen phosphorylase was found to deviate most strongly from normal, with the enzyme exhibiting two initial maxima. The enzyme activity in the serum vanished not later than twelve days from transplantation. The curve of myoglobin was largely parallel to that of phosphorylase. Phosphorylase seemed to be of particular suitability for assessment of ischaemic damage in the wake of transplantation. The individual courses seemed to suggest that none of the investigated parameters exhibited sufficiently sensitive correlations with pathomorphological signs of rejection.