Metabolic profile of patients after heart transplantation

Orthotopic heart transplantation improves life expectancy and quality of life in patients with severe heart failure. After transplantation, metabolic complications are frequent. They are caused particularly by immunosuppressive therapy. In our cohort of 315 patients, 52% of patients had diabetes mellitus together with hyperlipoproteinemia, 41% of patients had hyperlipoproteinemia without diabetes, 3% of patients had diabetes mellitus without hyperlipoproteinemia and only 4% of patients had none of these disorders. Therapeutic options with respect to interactions with immunosuppressive therapy are discussed in this article.