Gastrointestinal complications after orthotopic cardiac transplantation

Abstract

Maintenance prednisone dose was higher in patients with GIC than in those patients without GIC, 16.1 +/- 2.5 mg versus 7.3 +/- 0.2 mg (P = 0.001), respectively. However, immunosuppression therapy for rejection episodes (i.e., Solumedrol megapulse or OKT3 therapy) was not related to an increased incidence of GIC. We present a review of our 21 cardiac transplant recipients to emphasize the potential for severe GIC and their corresponding perioperative morbidity and mortality.