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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 28, 2016; 22(40): 8869-8882
Published online Oct 28, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i40.8869
Cardiovascular risk after orthotopic liver transplantation, a review of the literature and preliminary results of a prospective study
Giuseppina Pisano, Anna L Fracanzani, Lucio Caccamo, Maria F Donato, Silvia Fargion
Giuseppina Pisano, Anna L Fracanzani, Silvia Fargion, Unit of Internal Medicine, Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Ca’ Granda IRCCS Foundation, Policlinico Hospital, University of Milan, 20122 Milan, Italy
Lucio Caccamo, Unit of Hepatic Surgery, Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Ca’ Granda IRCCS Foundation, Policlinico Hospital, University of Milan, 20122 Milan, Italy
Maria F Donato, Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Ca’ Granda IRCCS Foundation, Policlinico Hospital, University of Milan, 20122 Milan, Italy
Author contributions: All authors contributed to this paper; Pisano G, Fracanzani AL and Fargion S contributed to study concept, literature review and analysis, drafting of the manuscript and critical revision; Caccamo L and Donato MF contributed to acquisition and analysis of patients data; all authors approved the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Anna L Fracanzani, MD, Unit of Internal Medicine, Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Ca’ Granda IRCCS Foundation, Policlinico Hospital, University of Milan, Via F. Sforza 35, 20122 Milan, Italy. anna.fracanzani@unimi.it
Telephone: +39-255-033370 Fax: +39-250-320296
Received: June 29, 2016
Peer-review started: June 30, 2016
First decision: August 8, 2016
Revised: August 27, 2016
Accepted: September 28, 2016
Article in press: September 28, 2016
Published online: October 28, 2016
Core Tip

Core tip: Due to better immunosuppressive therapies, the survival of liver transplantation recipients is improved, but an increased incidence of metabolic disorders as well as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases as causes of morbidity and mortality is observed. This review analyzes risk factors [before orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) and occurring de novo after OLT] leading to cardiovascular diseases and the current tools to identify high risk patients. We also provide preliminary data from one of the first prospective studies on the evolution of cardiovascular damage in adult patients submitted to OLT.