Purpose: To correlate the incidence of arrhythmias to the degree of allograft rejection on endomyocardial biopsy.
Methods: Seventeen patients who underwent orthotopic heart transplantation were submitted to ambulatory Holter monitoring 24h prior to endomyocardial biopsy. The biopsy results were compared to Holter monitoring results.
Results: The mean study period was 252 +/- 166 days (15 to 515). We found a high incidence of ventricular premature beats (> 70%), except in patients with severe rejection (25%), but there was no statistically significant difference between the groups with no rejection, mild and moderate rejection. Atrial premature beats were more common in patients with mild and moderate rejection (53% and 70%, respectively) when compared to patients with no rejection (33%) and patients with severe rejection (9%), (p < 0.05). Sinus bradycardia was present in 50% of patients with severe rejection, but only in 9% of moderate, 3% of mild and 5% of the patients with no rejection (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: Supraventricular tachycardia and atrial premature beats are related to moderate rejection. Ventricular premature beats are not related to degree of rejection. Sinus bradycardia occurring in the first year after transplantation should suggest severe cardiac allograft rejection.