Arrhythmia – a pitfall in tests of cardiac autonomic function after liver transplantation for familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy: a long-term follow-up of Swedish patients

Liver transplantation (LT) is a potentially curative treatment for hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis, of which familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP) is the most common form in Sweden. This study investigated the long-term development in heart rate variability (HRV) after LT in Swedish FAP patients. HRV was analyzed before LT, and during a first (<40 months) and a second (>40 months) follow-up recording after transplantation, respectively. Power spectrum analysis was performed on 2-min sequences in the supine position and after passive tilt, after careful identification of patients with arrhythmia. Data were obtained from 33 patients, but 18 patients had developed cardiac arrhythmia or were pacemaker-treated (4 before LT and 14 after LT) and three patients had not performed the first follow-up recording. In the remaining 12 patients, HRV decreased between the pretransplant evaluation and the first follow-up, thereafter no significant changes were found. In conclusion, our study showed that the progressive development of cardiac arrhythmias after LT is a major pitfall when assessing cardiac autonomic function in FAP patients, especially in patients older than 40 years. In the minority of patients with sinus rhythm in all recordings, cardiac autonomic modulation remained stable after transplantation and no improvement was noted.