Antiviral drug limits heart disease.A drug given to people who have recently received an organ transplant seems to thwart heart disease in later years among these patients, a study in the July 6 CIRCULATION indicates. The drug, ganciclovir, is prescribed routinely for organ recipients because it controls cytomegalovirus cytomegalovirus (sī'təmĕg'əlōvī`rəs), member of the herpesvirus family that can cause serious complications in persons with weakened immune systems. , a form of herpes virus Herpes virus Viruses that can infect the skin, mucous membranes, and brain, and they are responsible for such diseases as herpes simplex, chicken pox, and shingles. Mentioned in: Erythema Multiforme that can cause dangerous infections in people taking immune-suppressing drugs. Innocuous in healthy people, cytomegalovirus infection Cytomegalovirus infection A common asymptomatic infection caused by cytomegalovirus, which can produce life-threatening illnesses in the immature fetus and in immunologically deficient subjects. after transplant can lead years later to heart disease in heart recipients, says study coauthor Hannah A. Valantine of Stanford University School of Medicine Stanford University School of Medicine is affiliated with Stanford University and is located at Stanford University Medical Center in Stanford, California, adjacent to Palo Alto and Menlo Park. . In the test, 76 heart-transplant patients received ganciclovir for about a month after surgery, while 73 others received an inert substitute. During the first year, 14 were excluded from each group for reasons such as heart attacks and transplant rejection transplant rejection Graft rejection, organ rejection, tissue rejection Immunology The constellation of host immune responses evoked when an allograft tissue is transplanted into a recipient; rejection phenomena may be minimized by optimal matching of MHC antigens . Ganciclovir had a long-term effect on patients who weren't getting drugs called calcium-channel blockers. These medications limit coronary artery spasms and slow progression of atherosclerosis. Of 28 who had received ganciclovir but not calcium-channel blockers, only 7 had heart disease 4 to 7 years after their operations. Of 25 patients who received neither, 13 had heart disease during those years, Valantine and her colleagues find. Ganciclovir seemed to impart little benefit for those who got calcium-channel blockers. |
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