What is the purpose of heart transplant? Are there any risk?

A heart transplant is surgical replacement of diseased heart with a healthy donor’s heart. The donor is an individual who has died and whose family has agreed to give away their loved one’s organs. Since the performance of this first human heart transplant in 1967, heart transplantation has changed a lot from an experimental operation to an established and proper treatment for advanced heart disease. Nearly 2,300 heart transplants get performed each year in the US>

Of course, you can talk to a doctor and check out Indian heart transplant options. Many people get diagnosed with dangerous heart ailments and hence they have to go through this transplant to get new life.

Who can be considered a Candidate for Heart Transplant?

Individuals who have advanced (end stage) heart failure, but are otherwise healthy, could be considered for a heart transplant.The following common questions should be considered by you, your health specialist and doctorand your family to decide if heart transplantation is correct for you:

  • Have all other types of therapies been tried or excluded?
  • Are you probable to die in the near future in the absence of transplant?
  • Are you in general good health other than that of the heart or heart and lung ailment?
  • Can you follow to the lifestyle changes, with complex drug treatments and recurrent exams, needed after a transplant?

In case you answered “no” to any of the above questions, then the heart transplantation might not be for you. Also, in case you have additional medical problems, like other severe ailments, active infections, or even simple obesity, you most probable will not be considered to be an applicant for transplant.

What is the procedure for getting heart transplant?

In order to get a heart transplant, you should first be placed on a transplant list. But, before you can be kept on the transplant list, you have to go through a careful screening procedure. A team of heart doctors, nurses, social workers, and even bioethicists review your medical history, diagnostic test outcomes, social history, and psychological test consequences to see if you are in a position to survive the procedure and then comply with the continuous care required to live a healthy life.

Once you have been approved, you must wait for a donor to be available. This procedure can be long and taxing. A supportive network of family and friends is required to help you through this tough time. The health care team will monitor you in a close manner to keep your heart failure in control till a donor heart gets found. The hospital should know where to contact you at all times should a heart gets available.

Conclusion

Thus, before you do anything it would be better if you note down the cost of heart transplant surgery in India and find out when is the right time to take decision for this important step. You cannot take your heart for granted and some procedures cannot be avoided.

Josephine