Overview
Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is a form of accelerated atherosclerosis affecting the coronary arteries of heart transplant recipients 1. It is a major cause of graft dysfunction and late mortality 1.Diagnosis
Coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) demonstrates high sensitivity (97.6%) and specificity (82.3%) for detecting any CAV 1.
Coronary CTA shows high sensitivity (92.6%) and specificity (92.6%) for significant CAV 1.
The PET CAV algorithm has good sensitivity (83.9%) and specificity (89.6%) for detecting significant CAV 1.Management
No management strategies are discussed in the provided abstracts.Key Recommendations
Cardiac CT and PET are recommended for noninvasive surveillance of CAV in heart transplant recipients 1. (Evidence: Expert opinion)References
1 Sayed A, Nayfeh M, Alahdab F, Al Rifai M, Abramov D, Fudim M et al.. Cardiac CT and PET for Surveillance of Heart Transplant Recipients: Systematic Review and Bayesian Meta-Analysis. JACC. Cardiovascular imaging 2025. link