Heart transplantation: how it is done, risks and recovery

Heart transplantation consists of replacing the heart with another one, coming from an individual who is brain dead and compatible with the patient who has a potentially fatal heart problem.

Thus, surgery is only done in cases of serious heart disease and, which endanger the patient's life, and is performed in the hospital, requiring hospitalization for 1 month and care after discharge so that organ rejection does not occur..

How is the surgery done

The heart transplant is performed by a specialized medical team within a properly equipped hospital, as it is a complex and delicate surgery, where the heart is removed and replaced with a compatible one, however, some part of the heart of the cardiac patient always remains.

Surgery is performed following the following steps:

Anesthetize the patient in the operating room; Make a cut on the patient's chest, connecting it to a heart-lung machine, which during surgery will help to pump blood; Remove the weak heart and place the donor's heart in place, suturing it; Close the chest, making a scar.

The heart transplant takes a few hours and after the transplant the individual is transferred to the intensive care unit and must remain in the hospital for about 1 month to recover and to avoid infections.

Indications for transplantation

There is an indication for a heart transplant in case of severe cardiac diseases in advanced stages, which cannot be solved with the ingestion of medications or other surgeries, and which jeopardize the individual's life, such as:

Severe coronary disease; Cardiomyopathy; Congenital heart disease Heart valves with severe changes.

The transplant can affect individuals of all ages, from newborns to the elderly, however, the indication for heart transplantation will also depend on the state of the other organs, such as brain, liver and kidneys, because if they are severely compromised, the individual may not benefit from the transplant.

Contraindications for transplantation

Contraindications to heart transplantation include:

AIDS, hepatitis B or C patients	Blood incompatibility between recipient and donor	Insulin-dependent diabetes or difficult-to-control diabetes mellitus, morbid obesity
Irreversible liver or kidney failure	Serious psychiatric illness	Severe lung disease
Active infection	Peptic ulcer in activity	Pulmonary embolism less than three weeks
Cancer	Amyloidosis, sarcoidosis or hemochromatosis	Age over 70 years.

Although there are contraindications, the doctor always assesses the risks and benefits of the surgery and, together with the patient, decides whether the surgery should be performed or not.

Risks of heart transplantation

The risks of heart transplantation involve:

Infection; Rejection to the transplanted organ, especially during the first 5 years; Development of atherosclerosis, which is the clogging of the cardiac arteries; Increased risk of developing cancer.

Despite these risks, the survival of transplanted individuals is high and most live more than 10 years after the transplant.

Heart transplant price

Heart transplantation can be performed in hospitals affiliated with SUS, in some cities, such as Recife and São Paulo, and the delay depends on the number of donors and the queue of people with the need to receive this organ.

Recovery after heart transplant

Some important precautions that a transplant recipient should take after heart transplantation include:

Take immunosuppressive drugs, as directed by the doctor; Avoid contact with people who are sick, polluted or very cold environments, as the virus can trigger an infection and lead to organ rejection; Eat a balanced diet, eliminating all raw foods from the diet and choosing only cooked foods to reduce the risk of infection.

These precautions must be followed for a lifetime, and the transplanted person may have a practically normal life, and even perform physical activity. Learn more at: Post Operative Cardiac Surgery.