Heart Transplant

With the development of surgical procedure and techniques, heart transplant in India has taken to new heights. As the heart is a necessary life support system, transplantation is an important way of dealing with cardiac problems. Heart transplant in India became cost useful with the hospital surges turning effective for the foreigners.

What is a heart transplant?

Heart transplantation is a surgical procedure which undertakes to replace a diseased or non-functioning heart with a healthy one. The surgeon discard the heart of patients by making a transaction in the aorta, the leading pulmonary artery and the superior as well as inferior vena cavae, and then dividing the left atrium. This leaves the back wall of the left atrium that has the pulmonary vein openings in place. After this, the donor’s heart is combined by sewing together the recipient and donor vena cavae, aorta, pulmonary artery and left atrium.

The donor for heart transplant is someone who is either brain dead or on ventilation. After removing the healthy heart from such a patient it is soaked in a solution before the transplant takes place.

Indications

This procedure can be recommended in the following cases:

Severe heart disease since birth

Cardiomyopathy

Coronary artery disease

Heart valve disease with congestive heart failure

Life-threatening abnormal heart beats (when other therapies fail)

Aortic disease

Coronary artery disease

Heart disease symptoms including angina, shortness of breath and palpitations.

Vascular disease

Congestive heart failure

Atrial fibrillation and flutter

Hypercholesterolemia and risk factor modification

Myocardial Infarction

Mitral valve prolapsed

Patients for whom this surgery is not recommended:

Kidney / lung/ liver disease

Insulin-dependent diabetes with poor function of other organs

Blood vessel disease of the neck and leg

Other life-threatening diseases

Who needs a heart transplant?

There is a very accurate selection of the patients who need this process. More patients need a transplant as their hearts can no longer pump sufficient to supply blood with oxygen and nutrients to the other organs. While the others have a excellent heart pump, but a bad “electrical conduction system” that determines the rate, rhythm and sequence of contraction of the heart muscle. This might become a reason of different problems.

Many people with “end-stage” heart disease where the heart is not functioning perfectly, but the other necessary organs should be in good shape. But if the patient is suffering from pollution, cancer, bad diabetes mellitus, or smoke/alcohol abuse, they cannot endure the surgery.

It is important that the patients should understanding psychological testing that whether they can good in consent with medications, difference in lifestyle and improvement after the surgery. Even the donor should also be well-matched with the blood group and body size of the patient.

Process of heart transplant in India

The heart that is conserved in a solution is transplanted when the patient is in wide sleep or under anesthesia. The cut is made in the breastbone and the heart-lung bypass appliance is used for the operation. This appliance helps the supply of blood over the entire body and brain while the operation method is being managed. The transplanted new heart later coordinate the smooth flow of blood within the patient’s body. The hospitals are prominent for cost-effective Cardio surgeries having trained surgeons. The department also specializes in treating other heart ailments like cardiac capture and heart attacks where cardiac care and therapies are also done to assist the patients.

How does it affect the heart?

The heart of the donor heart is coordinated to the immune system of the recipient. The patient has to take proper medication (immunosuppressive medication ) for prohibit the immune system from rejecting the new heart. The risk of side effects, such as infection or cancer is also avoided.

Medical Follow-up

A patient of heart transplant needs proper checkups after the surgery to check overall health. At the time of visits, the doctor initiates some blood tests for checking the level of the immunosuppressive drugs and other side effects. He also examine doing electrocardiogram, echocardiogram and Holter monitoring for monitoring the heart’s rhythm and function, or an endomyocardial biopsy for surveying the sufficiency of the therapy. The doctor also determines patient’s coronary arteries annually, for monitoring any signs of narrow coronary arteries in the heart that has been transplanted.