Sistema Cardiovascular Heart transplant

The replacement of a diseased heart with another may become necessary in situations of terminal heart failure (where the clinical treatment is not able to keep the patients stable anymore or acute viral myocarditis with significant myocardial injury. It is worthwhile to stress that the clinical treatment or surgery (for example, coronary artery bypasses for ischemic cardiopathy, ventricular aneurysm resection, and correction of valve diseases) are sufficient in most cases with heart failure. However, the transplant must be considered in cases of advanced dilated myocardiopathy or other condition without possibility of efficient clinical or surgical treatment. In this procedure, the heart of other brain-dead person (donor) is used, being placed in the patient (receptor), replacing the diseased heart. With the patient in an extracorporeal circulation (artificial heart-lung machine), the diseased heart is removed while the circulation and the oxygenation are maintained by the machine and then the donor’s heart is implanted.

Postoperatory

In the postoperatory, the patient must use immunosuppressant medicines (to prevent rejection) for his/her life. The compliance with follow-up is significant, as these drugs facilitate infections, the rejection must be continuously monitored, and the medicine doses must be adjusted.

Support notes

Heart failure: Heart difficulty in properly pump to the body, when the heart usually increases in size. Click here to go to the page of Heart Failure and to know more about this subject.