• Wayne L Miller, Brooks S Edwards, Walter K Kremers, Sudhir S Kushwaha, Christopher G A McGregor, Richard C Daly, and Allan S Jaffe.
• Mayo Medical Center, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
• J. Heart Lung Transplant. 2005 Dec 1; 24 (12): 2075-8.

BackgroundCardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is considered a major cause of morbidity and mortality in transplant recipients and may reflect immune-mediated endothelial injury in response to the donor heart. Elevated troponin levels in the donor serum might provide a marker for this phenomenon; therefore, we evaluated the relationship of donor troponin levels to the development of CAV.MethodsA retrospective analysis of troponin levels was undertaken from cardiac donor patients, and transplant recipients were monitored for the development of vasculopathy by angiography (N = 171).ResultsAngiographically significant CAV developed in 6% of transplantation patients and troponin levels were inversely related to the severity of CAV.ConclusionsElevated donor troponin levels are not associated with the development of CAV but rather with a significantly reduced long-term risk of developing CAV, suggesting a possible protective effect of donor released protein.

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