Heart Transplant: What to Know About it

“I just saw a photo of John on Facebook,” Uche said. “The caption says he needs 15 million naira for a heart transplant, this is so sad.” “John has been battling this heart thing for months now, I hope he can get the help he needs now,” Phillip responded.

A heart transplant is a surgical procedure to replace a failing heart with a healthier heart obtained from someone who has died (donor). The person who receives the transplant is called a recipient.

Who is a heart transplant candidate?

A healthy heart pumps an adequate amount of blood nearly 75 times every minute to deliver oxygen and nutrients to every part of the body. Heart failure is a condition in which the body does not receive adequate amounts of these needed substances due to a damaged heart.  While heart failure can often be managed with medications, heart transplant may be the last resort for some. 

Conditions that could lead to this include: 

• Heart attacks, especially severe ones 
• Heart valve disease. Valves are the tissues that open and close the chambers of the heart during each pump
• A heart problem that was present at birth (congenital)

Even when a heart transplant is needed, an individual may not be a good candidate for this complex operation due to:

• Very advanced age: Advanced age may impair wound healing after the procedure
• Other severe medical problems, such as liver disease and kidney failure
• An ongoing infection
• Poor lifestyle habits, such as smoking and excessive alcohol intake
• Late-stage cancer

Complications of Heart Transplant

A heart transplant may be life-saving, but it also comes with risks. Some risks of the procedure include:

• Rejection of the donor heart: It is one thing to replace a failing heart with a healthy one, and it is another for the body to accept it. Rejection is one of the most devastating complications after a heart transplant. This is managed with medicines to control the immune rage.
• Graft failure: Sometimes the transplanted heart still does not function as it should.
• Infection: Doctors usually administer medicines to suppress the immune system after a heart transplant. These medicines lower the risk of rejection of the transplanted heart, but they also lower the body’s ability to fight infections.

Heart failure is a serious condition in which the heart loses much of its pumping ability. While there are many interventions to treat this, a heart transplant is the last resort. Heart transplant comes with certain risks, including rejection of the new heart and infection.