Insight into Noninvasive Radiological Modalities to Detect Heart Transplant Rejection

Abstract

Purpose Patients with end-stage heart failure who remain symptomatic even with exemplary medical and device therapy are treated with heart transplantation. Multitudes of endeavor have been contrived during the last decennium in the field of noninvasive tests to rule out heart transplant rejection (HTR). In spite of having supportive literature, noninvasive imaging techniques lack acceptable documentation of clinical robustness, and endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) still remains the gold standard. The aim of this review is to shed light on the existing noninvasive radiological modalities to detect rejection among heart transplant recipients.

Keywords

• acute allograft rejection
• cardiac magnetic resonance imaging
• echocardiography
• heart transplantation
• speckle-tracking echocardiography