Heart rate reactivity and heart period variability throughout the first year after heart transplantation

Author(s): Sloan, R. P., Bagiella, E., Bigger, J. T., Gorman, J. M.

Journal/Book: Psychophysiology. 1996; 33: 1010 Vermont Ave NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20005. Soc Psychophysiol Res. 54-62.

Abstract: Heart rate reactivity to mental stress is substantially blunted early after heart transplantation, suggesting that the loss of neural modulation limits the cardiovascular response to mental stress. We tested whether reactivity to mental stress recovers during the first year after heart transplantation. Hemodynamic and respiratory responses to mental arithmetic challenge were studied in 20 heart transplant recipients 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery. A normal comparison group was studied at equivalent intervals. Heart rate reactivity to mental arithmetic was significantly reduced in the cardiac transplant group compared to the normal subjects. This effect persisted up to 1 year after transplantation. Heart period variability in the heart transplant recipients was minimal in all three test sessions. The findings suggest that no functional reinnervation or other compensatory adaptation occurs up to 1 year after heart transplantation.

Note: Article PA Shapiro, Columbia Univ Coll Phys & Surg, Dept Psychiat, 622 W 168 St Box 427, New York, NY 10032 USA

Keyword(s): heart transplantation; cardiovascular reactivity; heart period variability; cardiac innervation; psychological stress; ORTHOTOPIC CARDIAC TRANSPLANTATION; BETA-ADRENERGIC SUPERSENSITIVITY; RESPIRATORY SINUS ARRHYTHMIA; POWER SPECTRUM ANALYSIS; DENERVATED HUMAN-HEART; SYMPATHETIC REINNERVATION; CONSCIOUS DOG; RECIPIENTS; BABOONS; STRESS

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