← Return to Heart Transplant: Experiencing Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy (CAV)

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@gbcapecod

I also was diagnosed with CAV, at my one-year tests. It’s scary because my understanding is there isn’t much you can do about it other than wait and hope it doesn’t progress. Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes there’s a low level found and it just stays there and doesn’t cause problems ... that’s what I’m hoping for! I was switched from Cellcept to Zortress (everolimus), which supposedly helps stall (and possibly even reverse) the progression. I asked my doctor if there was anything else I could do and she said stay healthy - eat (the usual) healthful foods and exercise, etc. I asked about supplements and she said the only one that might help is fish oil, but having said that, that’s only if I’m not eating fatty fish, which provides the same thing.

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Replies to "I also was diagnosed with CAV, at my one-year tests. It’s scary because my understanding is..."

@gbcapecod, I'm not a heart transplant recipient; I'm liver and kidney transplant recipient. Every year at my annual evaluation, there are labs and protocol tests scheduled to keep check on my liver and kidney. On a side note, I had a progressive liver disease that could return and it would show up in my bile ducts and my labs. The procedures are, I'm sure, different for a heart transplant. What kind of test was given, or how did the doctor discover the CAV? How will they keep it monitored? Will you experience any telltale symptoms?