What is Heart Transplant?

A Heart transplant is a complex and major surgical procedure. With advanced innovations in surgical technologies, heart transplant in India is safe and yields great outcomes. The success rate of heart transplant in India is as good as the best in the world. The survival rate after 1 year of heart transplant is 85-90%, and according to a new study, living for 15 to 20 years following a heart transplant is becoming the norm, not the exception.

As the latest techniques of heart transplant are advancing, many people from around the world come for heart transplantation in India. Owing to the low cost of heart transplant in India, highly skilled & experienced surgeons and state of art hospital facilities, India has emerged as one of the most favorable destinations for organ transplants in the world.

With end-to-end services for your hassle-free organ transplant in India with IndiCure, medical tourism in India has been made quite easy besides being affordable.

A heart transplant, also known as a cardiac transplant, is a surgical operation used to treat patients with end-stage heart failure or severe coronary artery disease who have failed to respond to other medical or surgical treatments. The operation entails replacing the patient’s damaged heart with the healthy heart of another patient who has been certified brain dead.

When other treatment options for heart conditions have failed, resulting in heart failure, a heart transplant is performed. Adults can get heart failure as a result of:

• A weakening of the heart muscle (cardiomyopathy)
• Coronary artery disease
• Heart valve disease
• Certain Congenital heart defects
• Dangerous recurring abnormal heart rhythms (ventricular arrhythmias) not controlled by other treatments
• Failure of a previous heart transplant

Cardiac failure in children is most commonly caused by a congenital heart abnormality or cardiomyopathy.

In persons with specific illnesses, another organ transplant may be performed at the same time as a heart transplant (multiorgan transplant).

Multiorgan transplants include:

• Heart-kidney transplant: Patients with kidney failure in addition to heart failure are candidates for Heart-kidney transplant.
• Heart-liver transplant: This procedure may be an option for people with certain liver and heart conditions.
• Heart-lung transplant: Doctors may recommend this treatment in rare cases for persons with serious lung and heart problems who cannot be managed with a heart transplant or a lung transplant alone.

When is Heart Transplant required?

Heart transplant candidates are those who’ve experienced heart disease or heart failure due to a variety of causes, including:

• a congenital defect
• coronary artery disease
• a valve dysfunction or disease
• a weakened heart muscle, or cardiomyopathy

You might not be a good candidate for a heart transplant if you:

• Are of a certain age that would make it difficult for you to recover from transplant surgery
• Have another medical condition that, independent of obtaining a donor’s heart, could shorten your life, such as major kidney, liver, or lung disease
• Have an infection that is still active
• Recent medical history of cancer
• Are reluctant or unable to make the necessary lifestyle adjustments, such as not drinking alcohol or smoking, to keep your donor heart healthy

How is Heart Transplant done?

Evaluation

Once a patient has been identified as a candidate for a heart transplant, they are subjected to a battery of tests to determine their physical health and ability to undergo a major surgical procedure.

The tests include blood testing and matching to check the compatibility. Various other tests and investigations include EKG, Echo, Chest X-ray, pulmonary function tests, physical assessment by a physician, and psychological tests. In addition to the medical tests, the doctors consider the patient’s family support, financial circumstances, psychological composition, and any other medical issues.

If the patient is judged to be a suitable candidate for the heart transplant after the tests and interviews, his or her name is added to the regional and national organ recipient lists.

The Heart Allocation Score determines an individual’s position on the list based on a complex computation that attempts to forecast two things:

• How long is it likely that a patient will live without a heart transplant?
• When a patient receives a heart transplant, how long can they expect to live?

When organ donors’ heart becomes available, people with better scores are given priority.

For foreigners coming to India for a lung transplant, it may take a few weeks to several months before you can find a donor for your heart transplant in India.

The surgery for a heart transplant takes about four hours. You’ll be connected directly to a heart-lung machine for the duration of your surgery to keep blood flowing throughout your body.

What is the Recovery after Heart Transplant like?

It could take several weeks for you to feel well enough to resume your normal daily routine. To ensure that the transplanted heart survives in your body, you will need to take anti-rejection medications for the rest of your life.

After a heart transplant, recovery is a long and difficult process aimed at gradually improving the patient’s health and fitness. Resuming normal daily activities could take up to six months.

What Results Can I Expect from Heart Transplant?

People who would otherwise die benefit from heart transplants. After two years, around 80% of heart transplant recipients are still alive. After a heart transplant, 70% of patients will still be alive after 5 years.

Rejection is the biggest issue, as it is with all transplants. If rejection can be managed, survival can be extended to more than ten years.