Cardiac imaging for the assessment of patients being evaluated for liver transplantation

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Hepatology
• Transplantation Medicine

Background:

• Cardiac risk assessment is standard before liver transplantation.
• Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and recipient age increase cardiovascular disease burden.
• Optimizing donor organ allocation necessitates careful candidate selection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the literature on noninvasive cardiac imaging for liver transplant candidates.
• To discuss diagnostic and prognostic applications of cardiac imaging.
• To propose an evidence-based algorithm for coronary artery disease surveillance.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of diagnostic and prognostic studies.
• Analysis of noninvasive cardiac imaging modalities.
• Development of a proposed evaluation algorithm.

Main Results:

• Noninvasive cardiac imaging is increasingly used for pre-transplant assessment.
• Optimal imaging strategies are debated.
• An algorithm for coronary artery disease surveillance is proposed.

Conclusions:

• Noninvasive cardiac imaging plays a key role in evaluating liver transplant candidates.
• Standardized assessment strategies are needed.
• The proposed algorithm can aid in coronary artery disease surveillance.