Chronic rejection in DLA identical dogs after orthotopic cardiac transplantation

The justification for clinical cardiac transplantation is that it should solve end-stage cardiac disease when no other medical or surgical treatment is available (76). However, after cardiac transplantation the main barriers to long-term survival and complete rehabilitation include the management of acute rejection episodes, the complications related to the immunosuppressive therapy and the progression of graft arteriosclerosis or chronic rejection (77). Although a progressive increase in patient survival has become apparent (77), many aspects of the process of acute and chronic cardiac allograft rejection have yet to be studied.