Results of heart transplantation in recipients with active infection

Although active infection in the recipient is generally considered to be an absolute contraindication for heart transplantation, seven of our first 104 transplant patients (6.7%) had active severe infection within the week before transplantation. Because of unstable clinical condition of these recipients, heart transplantation was performed when an adequate donor was offered, in spite of infection. Patients were managed with cyclosporine as the only immunosuppressive therapy during the first week after transplantation. Mortality rate and incidence of acute rejection were not different for these seven patients than for the remaining 97 patients.