Academy of Medical Sciences of I.R. Iran Archives of Iranian Medicine 1029-2977 13 2 2010 02 01 Tacrolimus Related Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy in Liver Transplant Recipients 116 119 EN Seyed Mohsen Dehghani Mahmood Haghighat Mohammad Hadi Imanieh Mozhgan Zahmatkeshan Mohammad Borzooei Hamid Amoozegar Mahmood Zamirian Siavash Gholami Ali Bahador Saman Nikeghbalian Heshmatollah Salahi Seyed Ali Malek-Hosseini Journal Article <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"> <meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"> <meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"> <link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Camir%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" /> <link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Camir%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx" /> <link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Camir%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml" /><style type="text/css">  </style> </meta> </meta> </meta> </meta> Background: Recently there are a number of reports on the cardiotoxicity of tacrolimus in post-transplant patients. There is no protocol for cardiovascular evaluation in these patients. This study was performed to evaluate the cardiotoxicity of tacrolimus in liver transplant recipients.<o:p></o:p> Patients and Methods: We evaluated 63 post-liver transplant patients who received tacrolimus. They were evaluated for cardiovascular complications by physical examination, electrocardiographic and echocardiographic examinations within three and six months following liver transplantation. Serum tacrolimus levels were checked by ELISA. For comparison, we selected 50 post-liver transplant patients who received no tacrolimus and evaluated them for cardiovascular function identically. <o:p></o:p> Results: Among 63 patients, 42 were male (66.7%) and 21 were female (33.3%); 70% of the patients were adults, and 19 (30%) were within the pediatric age group. The cardiovascular examinations, electrocardiogram and echocardiography of all patients three months post-transplantation were normal except for two children who developed tacrolimus related cardiac complications. Both had high serum tacrolimus levels. No adults developed cardiovascular complications. In the control group, the results of the cardiovascular evaluations were normal in all cases. <o:p></o:p> Conclusion: The cardiovascular toxicity of tacrolimus, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, may be observed in pediatric patients. Therefore, we recommend routine regular cardiovascular evaluation of children after liver transplantation.