Molecular diagnostics for the monitoring of the cardiac allograft

Heart transplantation (HT) remains the optimal long-term therapy to improve survival in eligible patients living with end-stage heart disease. Monitoring the health of the allograft over its lifespan is critical to ensure the rapid diagnosis of immunologic, vascular, and myocardial events to enable the timely deployment of appropriate medical therapies. Advances in next-generation sequencing are being applied to screening for allograft rejection to the early detection of malignancy and have already been integrated into the routine care of HT recipients. Further personalization of care by integrating omics and imaging technologies, combined with novel data analysis methods, is at hand.