Usefulness of Tolvaptan for the Postoperative Control After Kidney Transplantation in a Patient With Cardiac Hypofunction: A Case Report.

BACKGROUND

Kidney transplantation in patients with cardiac hypofunction is challenging. Even if the surgery is successfully performed, these patients may suffer from low output cardiac function. We report the case of a patient with severe cardiac hypofunction who developed heart failure (HF) complicated with low output cardiac function, which markedly improved after the administration of tolvaptan, after successful living kidney transplantation.

CASE PRESENTATION: A 70-year-old man was diagnosed with chronic renal failure of unknown etiology 4 years previously, for which hemodialysis was initiated. Three years previously, percutaneous coronary intervention was performed because of acute myocardial infarction. Since then, he had been hospitalized for the control of HF. He was referred to our department because he wished to undergo kidney transplantation. We decided to perform the transplantation after determining that he could tolerate the operation. On postoperative day 6, however, his urine discharge volume suddenly declined, leading to an increase in his body weight despite administration of an adequate amount of furosemide, and he was diagnosed with acute HF. The patient's condition markedly improved after the introduction of tolvaptan.

CONCLUSION

To our knowledge, this is the first report of improvement in postoperative HF after tolvaptan administration. Although numerous kidney transplantations have been performed at our institute, it is relatively rare that we decide to operate in a patient with severe cardiac hypofunction.