NONINVASIVE REJECTION MONITORING IN HUMAN HEART-TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS - CURRENT STATUS AND THE USE OF THESE TECHNIQUES FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF A SMALL CENTER

In view of the numerous techniques known for noninvasive rejection monitoring for heart transplant recipients, it is important, especially for small transplant centres, to select suitable parameters for routine monitoring. We verified the methods for rejection monitoring and on the basis of the good results after orthotopic heart transplantation in our unit (33 patients, 78% overall survival, no death later than 6 months after transplantation), consider the following parameters useful for small transplant centres: heart/thorax ratio, echocardiography and neopterine. The Fast-Fourier analysis should prove of great value for small transplant units, given the availability of suitable apparatuses.