LAPAROSCOPIC-ASSISTED COLECTOMY IN HEART-TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS

Reports of laparoscopy in heart graft recipients are scarce and, to ou r knowledge, laparoscopic colectomy has not yet been reported in heart transplant patients. The magnitude and the tolerance of the hemodynam ic changes induced by pneumoperitoneum are unknown in heart graft reci pients, who have a denervated heart and are ''preload-dependent''. The authors report the clinical courses of 2 heart graft recipients who d eveloped acute diverticulitis without perforation or peritonitis and w ho underwent laparoscopic-assisted colectomy without complications.