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Pediatric coronary allograft vasculopathy-a review of pathogenesis and risk factors
Congenital Heart Disease, 05/02/2012
Schumacher KR et al. – Children represent a patient group with unique differences: their pretransplant history rarely includes ischemic heart disease and risk factors for atherosclerotic heart disease, but many are presensitized from use of allograft material during reconstructive cardiac surgeries. Compared with older children and adults, infants and young children show significantly lower rates of graft vasculopathy that may be related to the relative immaturity of their immune system.