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Moulik, M., Breinholt, J.P., Dreyer, W.J., et al. (2010) Viral endomyocardial infection is an independent predictor and potentially treatable risk factor for graft loss and coronary vasculopathy in pediatric cardiac transplant recipients. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 56, 582-592. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2010.02.060

has been cited by the following article:

• TITLE: Pathogenesis of cardiac graft failure in children

  AUTHORS: Jenny Lin, Bahig M. Shehata

  KEYWORDS: Cardiac Graft Failure; Pediatric Cardiac Transplant

  JOURNAL NAME: Open Journal of Pediatrics, Vol.2 No.4, December 13, 2012

  ABSTRACT: For many critical cardiac conditions such as cardio-myopathy, congenital heart defects, or arrhythmogenic disorders, cardiac transplantation is often an accepted treatment with optimistic one- and five-year survival rates of 90% and 75% in the pediatric patient population, respectively. However, poor long-term survival is a cause for concern, with cardiac graft failure being the leading cause in late mortality transplant recipients. Cardiac graft failure occurs through several mechanisms. However, the most common causes include cardiac allograft vasculopathy, myocardial fibrosis, and fibrofatty changes. Risk factors exacerbate these mechanisms through rejection, immunosuppressive drug side effects, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, renal dysfunction, and viral infection to increase the chance of cardiac graft failure. Changes in expression levels of various genes offer diagnostic potential for the future of cardiac transplantation. Through a comprehensive review of how multiple factors can lead a cardiac graft into failure, we hope to contribute to the longevity of cardiac grafts and pediatric heart transplant recipients.