Objectives of this study were (1) to evaluate preoperative predictors of systolic and diastolic heart failure in patients undergoing liver transplantation (LT) and (2) to describe the prognostic implications of systolic and diastolic heart failure in these patients. The onset of heart failure after orthotopic LT remains poorly understood. Data were obtained for all LT recipients between January 2000 and December 2010. The primary outcome was post-LT heart failure: systolic (ejection fraction 50%), diastolic, or mixed heart failure. Patients underwent echocardiographic evaluation before and after LT. Pretransplant variables were evaluated as predictors of heart failure with Cox proportional hazards model. 970 LT recipients were followed for 5.3 6 3.4 years. Ninety-eight patients (10.1%) developed heart failure in the posttransplant period. There were 67 systolic (6.9%), 24 diastolic (2.5%), and 7 mixed systolic/diastolic (0.7%) heart failures. Etiology was ischemic in 18 (18.4%), tachycardia-induced in 8 (8.2%), valvular in 7 (7.1%), alcohol-related in 4 (4.1%), hypertensive heart disease in 3 (3.1%), and nonischemic in majority of patients (59.2%). Pretransplant grade 3 diastolic dysfunction, diabetes, hypertension, mean arterial pressure 65 mm Hg, mean pulmonary artery pressure 30 mm Hg, mean pulmonary capillary wedge pressure 15 mm Hg, hemodialysis, brain natriuretic peptide level and QT interval > 450 ms were found to be predictive for the development of new-onset systolic heart failure. However beta-blocker use before LT and tacrolimus after LT were associated with reduced development of new-onset systolic heart failure. In conclusion, pretransplant risk factors, hemodynamic variables, and echocardiographic variables are important predictors of post-LT heart failure. In patients undergoing LT, postoperative onset of systolic or diastolic heart failure was found to be an independent predictor of mortality.

Pre-transplant DD is significantly associated with increased risk of allograft rejection, graft failure and mortality. This signifies the importance of cardiac evaluation during the pre-transplant period.

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to investigate differences in component alignment between first and second knees in simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty (SBTKA) and unilateral TKA (UTKA).Materials and Methods274 SBTKAs and 198 UTKAs were included in study. Patients were divided into three groups as SBTKA on the right knee (group A), SBTKA on the left knee (group B) and UTKA (group C). Femoral and tibial component alignment was checked in both coronal plane (alpha [α] and beta [β] angles) and sagittal plane (gamma [γ] and delta [δ] angles) radiographs.ResultsThere were no statistically significant differences among groups in the preoperative anatomical varus angle and Kellgren–Lawrence gonarthrosis classification grade (p=0.139 and p=0.329, respectively). In the coronal plane, the alignment of femoral component (α angle) and tibial component (β angle) was similar in all three groups (α angle, 95.01 vs. 95.14 vs. 94.9, p=0.945; β angle, 90.03 vs. 89.67 vs. 89.98, p=0.483). The sagittal plane alignment of femoral component (γ angle) and tibial component (δ angle) did not show significant differences (γ angle, 7.04 vs. 6.98 vs. 7.00, p=0.132; δ angle, 86.56 vs. 87.41 vs. 86.73, p=0.610).ConclusionsThe angular alignment of components was similar between SBTKA and UTKA.

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