Introduction: Following heart transplantation (HT), neurologic complications occur in 50% to 70% of patients, mostly in the perioperative period. The objective of our study was to analyze the frequency and impact of factors related to the development of neurological complications after HT.
Materials and methods: HT patients with survival greater than 1 month (November 1987 to May 2003) were included. Heart-lung transplants, retransplants, and pediatric patients were excluded. Neurologic complications were defined as a neurologic event requiring hospitalization or detected in the hospital. Groups included ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, seizures, neurotoxicity or other complications (e.g., infections, headaches, Alzheimer's).
Results: We assessed 322 HT patients (87.6% men, 12.4% women) and grouped them according to the presence of neurologic complications during follow-up. There were no differences in the baseline characteristics between the two groups. Of patients the patients studied, 13.7% suffered a neurologic complication: ischemic stroke (3.5%), neurotoxicity (2.9%), seizures (1.9%), and other complications (1.6%). Only two cases of hemorrhagic stroke (0.6%) were observed. Associations with pretransplant risk factors included seizures with diabetes mellitus (OR, 6.54; 95% CI, 1.28 to 33.6, P = .024), seizures with renal failure (OR, 5.95; 95% CI, 1.03 to 34.3; P = .046), and ischemic stroke with prior valvular disease (OR, 4.96, 95% CI, 1.22 to 20.1; P = .045). Associations with pretransplant risk factors were neurologic complications with the number of infections (OR, 1.35, 95% CI, 1.05 to 1.73; P = .02). No differences were found in survival of patients with neurologic complications.
Conclusions: The incidence of neurologic complications in our series was 13.7%. The most frequent neurologic complication was ischemic stroke. Valvular disease as the underlying disease was associated with ischemic stroke. Diabetes mellitus and renal failure were associated with seizures. The number of posttransplant infections was associated with neurologic complications. There were no differences in survival of patients with neurologic complications.