Corrective surgery for idiopathic scoliosis after heart transplantation.

Abstract

Cardiac transplant surgery is being performed with increasing frequency as a treatment for end-stage heart disease. In addition to the well-known post-surgical problems of rejection and infection, these patients may present at a future date with other medical problems which require surgical treatment, including orthopaedic pathology. Severe idiopathic scoliosis has been described in association with congenital heart disease, and its surgical treatment poses considerable risks because of heart disease. Spinal fusion in heart transplant recipients involves similar risks due to the particular physiology and pharmacological reactions of the denervated heart. Several cases of cholecystectomy performed in heart transplant recipients have been described, but to our knowledge no orthopaedic procedures have been reported in such patients. We report on a 15-year-old patient who underwent successful corrective surgery for idiopathic scoliosis 14 months after heart transplant.