Heart Transplant
At Dharma Vira Heart Center, we strive to give the gift of life each day. Our advanced heart transplant unit ensures giving a second chance at life to our patients.
A heart transplant is a surgical procedure in which an ailing heart is removed to be replaced with a healthy donor heart. The recipient is either at end-stage heart failure or someone who is suffering from a severe form of cardiac disease. Usually, it so happens that there is very little to no hope to bring the heart back to close to normal functioning, when all else fails, a heart transplant is the last resort.
The donor heart comes from brain dead and deceased individuals.
At Dharma Vira Heart Center, we are at the forefront in making the process of a heart transplant smooth and one with negligible delay. Our highly skilled and intellectual group of surgeons is able to handle all the cardiac procedures with a great sense of responsibility and sound judgment. The state-of-the-art infrastructure at our center supports our surgeons in providing effective, safe, and patient-centered transplants and follow-ups.
Our team consists of transplant experts, surgeons, cardiologists, pulmonologists, anesthesiologists highly skilled nurses, and staff.
Process of heart transplant
Once a suitable donor heart is found, whose parameters match the recipient’s requirements the process of transplantation begins. The donor heart can be implanted within 4 hours of removal from the deceased person’s body, after which it is stored in ice.
The hospital preps the patient by administering general anesthesia. This is open-heart surgery, so the patient is put on ventilator support and IV fluids are administered. The damaged heart is removed by connecting the arteries and veins to a by-pass machine. Next, the recipient’s arteries and veins are removed from the by-pass machine, and the donor’s heart is connected to the machine, ready to be placed in the recipient’s body. The surgery is complete after the chest is closed by suturing.
The recipient can usually go back home in a week, but sometimes depending on other risk factors, the stay may have to be extended. The recipient is then engaged in a cardiac rehabilitation program after a heart transplant under medical supervision.
