Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the lipid profile after heart transplantation.
Methods: We performed sequential analyses in serum (in mg/dL) of total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, VLDL-cholesterol and triglycerides in patients who underwent orthotopic heart transplantation. These analyses were performed at one month (33 patients), six months (32), one year (26), two years (22) and three years (19) after the transplantation.
Results: After the heart transplantation there was a progressive elevation in the serum levels of total cholesterol (215 +/- 53 at the 1st month, 229 +/- 57 at the 6th month, 239 +/- 52 at the 1st year, 250 +/- 53 at the 2nd year and 278 +/- 63 at the 3rd year, p = 0.0006). LDL-cholesterol (137 +/- 46 at the 1st month, 152 +/- 47 at the 6th month, 156 +/- 45 at the 1st year, 164 +/- 43 at the 2nd year and 180 +/- 58 at the 3rd year, p = 0.03). VLDL-cholesterol (35 +/- 15 at the 1st month, 37 +/- 14 at the 6th month, 42 +/- 14 at the 1st year, 42 +/- 15 at the 2nd year and 45 +/- 17 at the 3rd year, p = 0.01) and triglycerides (169 +/- 75 at the 1st month, 188 +/- 75 at the 6th month, 216 +/- 70 at the 1st year, 218 +/- 89 at the 2nd year and 255 +/- 103 at the 3rd year, p = 0.001). There were no changes in HDL-cholesterol levels (44 +/- 15 at the 1st month, 41 +/- 12 at the 6th month, 40 +/- 12 at the 1st year, 44 +/- 14 at the 2nd year and 45 +/- 15 at the 3rd year, p = ns).
Conclusion: We observed a progressive elevation in the levels of total cholesterol, LDL, VLDL and triglicerides during the 1st three years after heart transplantation.