C4d analysis in endomyocardial biopsies of heart transplant patients: is there a correlation with hemodynamic data?
In our experience, C4d has been routinely evaluated in the majority of EMBs. We could not demonstrate a significant correlation of C4d positivity with hemodynamic compromise. These findings suggest that significant allograft dysfunction is not related to C4d positivity. Therefore, the diagnosis of AMR is difficult to establish, because allograft dysfunction is 1 of the 3 fundamental criteria.
The comparable inhibition of resting sympathetic nerve activity, paralleled by a decrease in heart rate and blood pressure after both epidural and intramuscular clonidine, indicates that epidural clonidine induces a supraspinally evoked general decrease in sympathetic outflow.