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Shared care in paediatric heart transplantation

Department of Cardiology, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, UK

Correspondence to:
Dr J Simmonds, Department of Cardiology, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Great Ormond Street, London WC1N 3JH, UK; simmoj@gosh.nhs.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The follow-up of paediatric heart transplant recipients is of vital importance to their short- and long-term health. With increasing numbers of transplants and better survival rates, more out-patient care is being performed at a local level. Both GPs and general paediatricians must have a thorough working knowledge of post-transplant medicine if they are to care effectively for these children. It is also essential for paediatric cardiologists to be vigilant for subtle signs of potentially catastrophic complications in these patients.

This article discusses current protocol in paediatric heart transplant, by examining the physiology, pathology and clinical presentation of the post-transplant recipient. It provides advice on running an out-patient clinic and successful management of acute presentations. It concludes that improvements in the understanding of transplantation can only be beneficial to individual patients if their specialist and local teams are knowledgeable about transplant, committed to the prevention of complications, and working in harmony . . . [Full text of this article]