Heart rate and early progression of cardiac allograft vasculopathy: A prospective study using highly automated 3-D optical coherence tomography analysis.

Introduction Heart rate slowing agents are frequently prescribed to manage heart transplant (HTx) patients with the assumption that higher heart rate is a risk factor in cardiovascular disease. Patients and Methods This prospective two-center study investigated early progression of cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) in 116 HTx patients. Examinations by coronary optical coherence tomography and 24-hour ambulatory ECG monitoring were performed both at baseline (1 month after HTx) and during follow-up (12 months after HTx). Results During the first post-HTx year, we observed a significant reduction in the mean coronary luminal area from 9.0 +/- 2.5 to 8.0 +/- 2.4 mm(2) (P < .001), and progression in mean intimal thickness (IT) from 106.5 +/- 40.4 to 130.1 +/- 53.0 mu m (P < .001). No significant relationship was observed between baseline and follow-up mean heart rates and IT progression (R = .02, P = .83; R = -.13, P = .18). We found a mild inverse association between beta-blocker dosage at 12 months and IT progression (R = -.20, P = .035). Conclusion Our study did not confirm a direct association between mean heart rate and progression of CAV. The role of beta blockers warrants further investigation, with our results indicating that they may play a protective role in early CAV development.