When you have heart failure, your heart is still working but not as efficiently as it should. A weakened or damaged heart isn’t able to pump enough blood to keep up with your body’s needs. A heart transplant can be a lifesaving option when other treatments fail.If your doctor recommends that you consider a heart transplant, he or she will likely refer you to a heart transplant center for an evaluation. You’re also free to select a transplant center on your own, but check with your health insurance provider to see which transplant centers are covered under your insurance plan. When evaluating heart transplant centers, take into account the number of heart transplants a center performs each year and recipient survival rates. You can compare transplant center statistics on the Web through a database maintained by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. Also consider additional services provided by a transplant center. Many centers coordinate support groups, assist you with travel arrangements, help you find local housing for your recovery period, or direct you to organizations that can help with these concerns.
A heart transplant usually needs to occur within four hours of organ removal for the donor organ to remain viable. Because of this time restraint, hearts are offered first to a transplant center within the region, then to centers within certain distances of the donor hospital. Surgery usually takes about four hours — longer if you’ve had prior heart surgery or there are complications during the procedure. The surgeon will open your chest cavity and connect you to a heart-lung bypass machine to keep oxygenated blood flowing throughout your body. The diseased heart is removed, and the donor heart is sewn into place. The new heart often starts beating when blood flow is restored. Sometimes an electric shock is needed to make the muscle fibers contract in a coordinated manner.You’ll have some pain after the surgery, which will be treated with medications. You’ll also have a ventilator to help you breathe and tubes in your chest to drain fluids from around your lungs and heart. Recovery often involves a one- to two-week hospital stay and about three months of frequent monitoring by the transplant team.
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