Doctor Kewal Krishan, an eminent cardiac surgeon who has done a tremendous amount of work in the field of cardiac surgery and is somebody who has performed an ample amount of surgeries to be a perfect heart surgeon. Doctor Kewal Krishan, disintegrates what is a heart transplant, why is it needed and how can one follow up after the surgery
What is a Heart Transplant?
A heart transplant is a surgery to remove the diseased heart from a person and replace it with a healthy one from an organ donor. To remove the heart from the donor, two or more healthcare providers must declare the donor brain-dead. Before you can be put on a waiting list for a heart transplant, a healthcare provider makes the decision that this is the best treatment choice for your heart failure. A healthcare team also makes sure you are otherwise healthy enough to go through the transplant process.
Why is it needed?
One may require a heart transplant for several reasons. The most common reason is that one or both ventricles have aren't functioning properly and severe heart failure is present. Ventricular failure can happen in many forms of congenital heart disease, but is more common in congenital defects with a single ventricle or if long-standing valve obstruction or leakage has led to irreversible heart failure. Patients who as children had the Fontan procedure, which helps complex congenital heart defects, may need a heart transplant because the blood flow through the venous system is slow and the veins are congested, which can lead to swelling, fluid accumulation, and protein loss.
How does it affect the heart?
The donor's heart is matched to the recipient by blood type and body size. As the heart transplant recipient, you must take medications to prevent his or her immune system from rejecting the new heart. These drugs are called immunosuppressive medication. The medical team will balance the amount of immunosuppressive medication you need to prevent rejection of your new heart with the risk of side effects, which include infection or cancer.
Medical Follow-up
One will require regular checkups after your transplant by a transplant cardiologist. At these visits, your cardiologist will do blood tests to check the levels of your immunosuppressive drugs and look for side effects. He or she may also order electrocardiogram, echocardiogram, and Holter monitoring to help monitor your heart rhythm and function, or an endomyocardial biopsy, which is a diagnostic procedure that surveys the sufficiency of your immunosuppressive therapy. Your doctor will evaluate your coronary arteries yearly or every other year to monitor for signs of narrowed coronary arteries in your transplanted heart. You should also have routine medical checkups to maintain overall health.
