Can a cardiac transplant patient get angina? How is this investigated?

Post-transplant cardiac denervation theoretically abolishes the perception of cardiac chest pain. However, some patients may develop postoperative typical anginal chest pain precipitated by exercise or by increasing heart rate. This has been associated with ECG evidence of ischaemia and coronary angiography has confirmed transplant associated coronary artery disease. Such symptoms, however, are usually described by patients who are more than five years following transplantation. Chest pain associated with coronary artery disease is uncommon in patients who are less than five years post-cardiac transplantation. Interestingly, recent evidence shows an absence of bradycardic response to apnoea and hypoxia in cardiac transplant recipients with obstructive sleep apnoea. It may be that prospective overnight polysomnography studies will identify parasympathetic re-innervation in this group.

The majority of patients with transplant associated coronary artery disease do not get chest pain. Presenting features include progressive dyspnoea with exertion or the signs and symptoms of cardiac failure. Cardiac auscultation may reveal a third or fourth heart sound or features of heart failure. The ECG may show rhythm disturbances or a reduction in total voltage (the summation of the R and S wave in leads I, II, III, V1 and V6). Transthoracic 2D echocardiography may reveal evidence of poor biventricular function. Most units do not advocate routine annual coronary angiography for asymptomatic patients, since the angiographic findings do not usually alter clinical managment. Furthermore, conventional coronary angiography does not always confirm the diagnosis; intravascular ultrasound may be more sensitive. The condition is frequently diffuse and distal and not usually amenable to intervention, e.g. with angioplasty, stent insertion or bypass surgery. In those patients who have a localised lesion, the disease may progress despite successful intervention. The majority of centres do not usually offer cardiac re-transplantation on account of shortage of donor organs and poor results attendant on cardiac re-transplantation. Therefore patients who develop this condition are usually managed medically.