A long-term follow-up after cardiac transplantation in a lupus patient: case report and review of the literature

Heart or heart-lung transplantations have only rarely been performed in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), who like other patients with multi-system autoimmune diseases are traditionally excluded from consideration for such transplantations. In view of the limited experience with heart transplantation in these patients, we report the successful transplantation outcome in a lupus patient and review the literature in relation to graft and recipient conditions.