Heart Transplant: A Second Lease of Life
It has been estimated that there have been no less than 3,500 heart transplants were carried out annually as of 2007 since the first successful organ transplant in 1967. The first successful operation of a human transplant in the world was done by South African cardiac surgeon Christiaan Neethling Barnard. Prior to his pioneering achievement in human heart transplant, he used to perform experiments of several heart transplants on animals. The surgeon was able to carry out the major and delicate operation with the assistance of his brother and a team of 30 people including other doctors, nurses and aides.
It was also estimated that there were close to a million people having a Class IV heart defect around the world, indicating the need of a new organ. This lead to experiments and researches on animal to human heart transplantation and artificial or man-made hearts. However both experiments were not successful enough to carry out on patients.
The pre-operative phase of the whole process is quite daunting for relatives or families of the patient as they should find a suitable heart donor and this would entail both emotional and mental pressures. The heart should come from a patient who is brain dead while his heart remains healthy and functioning.
The donor heart should pass through stringent inspection before the actual operation on the removal of the heart can begin. The patient is led to the operating room if conditions are favorable to start the operation process. What follows suit is either an orthotropic or heterotrophic procedure depending on the condition of the hearts of both patient and the donor.
An orthotropic is performed if both the donor and patient’s hearts are removed from their respective bodies. That is if the patient’s heart is not functioning well. The donor’s heart is injected with potassium chloride before it is removed. The chloride stops the heartbeat. The donor heart is packed with ice to preserve it until the patient is ready for the transplantation.
The heterotrophic procedure is performed if the patient’s heart is not removed. The donor’s heart is placed in the desired position alongside the patient’s heart so that chambers and blood vessels of both hearts can function together following an operation. This is performed to give a patient’s heart a chance to recover with the help of the donor heart through connected vessels. And if the donor heart fails for some reasons, it can be removed leaving the patient’s own heart which is by now functioning normally.
The post-operative process can start immediately by placing the patient under rehabilitation program. He may stay for more days in the hospital depending on the general health condition of the patient. If the patient is ready to leave the hospital and choose to go home, he may be advised to have a nurse or a caregiver for post-transplant care and should make regular visits to the hospital for check-up and monitor his health condition.
The survival rate of patients who underwent heart transplant, especially through orthotropic procedures, has increased over the years. The prognosis rate is high after one year and decreases slightly after 3 to 5 years. Males have a more remarkable survival rate than female patients.