†These authors contributed equally.
Cardiovascular events are among the most common causes of late death in the
transplant recipient (Tx) population. Moreover, major cardiac surgical procedures
are more challenging and risky due to immunosuppression and the potential impact
on the transplanted organ’s functional capacity. We aimed to assess open cardiac
surgery safety in abdominal solid organ transplant recipients, comparing the
postoperative outcomes with those of nontransplant (N-Tx) patients. Electronic
databases of PubMed, EMBASE, and SCOPUS were searched. The endpoints were:
overall rate of infectious complications (wound infection, septicemia,
pneumonia), cardiovascular and renal events (stroke, cardiac tamponade, acute
kidney failure), 30-days, 5-years, and 10-years mortality post-cardiac surgery
interventions in patients with and without prior solid organ transplantation.
This meta-analysis included five studies. Higher rates of wound infection (Tx vs.
N-Tx: OR: 2.03, 95% CI: 1.54 to 2.67, I