Heart transplant rejection pathology

Abstract

Baclgrpund/Aim. Heart transplantation is the most effective way to treat patients in the terminal stage of heart failure. Endomyocardial biopsy has proven to be a safe and appropriate technique, with little sampling error and remains to this day one of the most commonly used methods for diagnosing of acute rejection. In 1990, ISHLT defined a standardized system for grading the severity of acute transplant rejection regarding endomyocardial sampling histopathological analysis. The aim of study is assessment of morphological, immunohistochemical and immunofluorescent markers of cellular and antibody-mediated rejection of heart transplant in patients monitored during 2020. Methods. From 31 patients transplanted at the Clinic for Cardiac Surgery of the Clinical Center of Serbia, endomyocardial biopsy material was obtained, then processed and analyzed at the Institute of Pathology of the Medical Faculty, University of Belgrade. Results. The average Transplant Rejection Score (TRS) value was 0.42. Spearman 's correlation test didn?t show a statistically significant relationship between the TRS score value and the difference between the ejection fraction values three and twelve months after transplantation. Conclusion. The mean TRS score value obtained in this study suggests dominant cell graft rejection.