Panic attacks 10 years after heart transplantation successfully treated with low-dose citalopram: a case report

Panic attacks are common among patients who have undergone heart transplantation, but there are no clinical guidelines for the treatment of panic attacks in this group of patients. This report describes a 22-year-old woman who experienced panic attacks 10 years after heart transplant surgery. The attacks started after she discovered that the average post-transplantation survival is 10 years. Treated with citalopram 10 mg/d, her symptoms improved significantly after 2 weeks and had completely resolved after 8 weeks. A positive physician-patient relationship with the doctors who regularly followed her medical condition was crucial to encouraging her to adhere to the treatment with citalopram. She continued taking the citalopram for 7 months without any adverse effects. When followed up 3 months after stopping the citalopram, she had had no recurrence of the panic attacks.