Combined heart and kidney transplantation-Is there a protective effect against cardiac allograft vasculopathy using intravascular ultrasound?

BACKGROUND

Because cardiac and renal disease are physiologically related and often coexist, the prevalence of combined heart and kidney transplantation (HKTx) has significantly increased over the last few years. It has been suggested that combined organ allografts modulate the immune system favorably for one or both allografts resulting in successful clinical outcomes. However, whether the addition of kidney transplantation has a protective immune effect against developing cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) has not been fully investigated.

METHODS

From March 2010 to September 2018, 30 HKTx recipients who had baseline (4-6 weeks) and 1-year intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) were matched with 60 isolated heart transplant (HTx-alone) recipients using propensity scores. First-year changes in maximal intimal thickness (MIT), maximal intimal area (MIA), maximal percent stenosis (MPS), percent atheroma volume (PAV), and incidence of rapid plaque progression were compared between the groups.

RESULTS

First-year coronary plaque progression was significantly decreased in HKTx recipients compared with HTx-alone recipients by change in the MIT (0.11 ± 0.14 mm vs 0.40 ± 0.32 mm, p < 0.001), MIA (0.52 ± 1.52 mm vs 1.86 ± 2.68 mm, p = 0.002), MPS (2.10% ± 5.64 percentage points vs 7.22% ± 8.59 percentage points, p = 0.001), and PAV (1.62% ± 3.07 percentage points vs 5.90% ± 5.92 percentage points, p < 0.001). Rapid plaque progression occurred in 2 of 30 in HKTx (6.7%) and in 22 of 60 HTx alone (36.7%), p = 0.002.

CONCLUSIONS

Combined heart and kidney transplantation is associated with a decrease in CAV by coronary plaque progression on IVUS. These results suggest that HKTx may have an immune modulating benefit over HTx alone.