AimTo assess the association between renal replacement therapy (RRT) and post-transplant infection incidence.MethodsThis single-center retrospective cohort study included 158 patients who underwent heart transplantation (HTx) in our center from 2008 to 2016, survived beyond the first post-procedural day, and had available microbial data. The patients were dichotomized according to the need for periprocedural RRT. Twenty-seven patients in RRT group had lower preoperative creatinine clearance, greater body mass index, and higher likelihood of having diabetes. Propensity score adjustment was used to account for multiple covariates. The primary outcome measure was the presence of bacteremia in patients with and without the need for RRT. The secondary outcome measures were the presence of microbial isolates from any culture and clinical outcome data.ResultsUnadjusted analysis showed that the RRT group had higher incidence of any positive microbial isolate (93% vs 73%; odds ratio [OR] 4.77, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01-30.53; P = 0.026) and an increased susceptibility to bacteremia (50% vs 22%; OR 3.50, 95% CI 1.28-9.67; P = 0.012). Propensity score-adjusted analysis corroborated the between-group difference in positive blood cultures (OR 3.97, 95% CI 1.28-12.32; P = 0.017). There was no difference in the incidence of total microbial isolates between the groups (OR 4.55, 95% CI 0.90-23.05; P = 0.067).ConclusionsPatients requiring RRT after HTx had an increased susceptibility to infections via various portals of entry, predominantly due to an increase in blood-borne infections. Understanding the underlying conditions leading to infection-related morbidity is important for infection control and prevention.

Cardiologia CROATICAObjectives: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) and vascular resistance in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) are caused by remodeling and thrombosis of small and medium sized pulmonary arteries and arterioles, as well as vasoconstriction. These patients have increased platelet aggregation and the activated platelets are major source of thromboxane A2 which is a strong vasopressor and proaggregation molecule. PGI2 and PGE1 have opposite effects. Misbalance in eicosanoids synthesis was observed in patients with PH. The results from vasoreactivity test, in which we measure the hemodynamic response to vasodilator, particularly change in mean pulmonary pressure (mPAP), pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) and transpulmonary gradient (TPG) in patients with PH due to the left heart disease, influence the decision on future course of treatment. The goal: to test whether the change of platelet aggregation during vasoreactivity testing is related to hemodynamic response measured as the change in mPAP, PVR and TPG. Patients and Methods: Our pilot study included 38 patients with secondary PH due to the left heart disease, 29 men (76%) and 9 women (24%). The right heart catheterization was performed in all patients and vasoreactivity testing with PGE1 in 19 patients (50%). Platelet aggregation induced by addition of AA (ASPI test), ADP (ADP test) and collagen (COL-test) was measured in blood samples from pulmonary artery with Multiplate and repeated after vasoreactivity testing. Results: Patients with the reduction of platelet aggregation in ASPI test had stronger, but insignificant reduction in mPAP (p=0.08) and PVR (p=0.15). Significant reduction was observed in the reduction of TPG (p=0.03). The reduc-

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