Heart Transplant
Heart Transplant
A heart transplant is the surgical removal of a person's diseased heart and replacement with a healthy heart from a donor. Heart failure is a condition in which the heart is damaged or weak. As a result, it cannot pump enough blood to meet the body's needs. Heart transplants are done as a life-saving measure for end-stage heart failure. Donor hearts are in short supply, therefore patients who need heart transplants go through a very careful selection process. They must be sick enough to need a new heart, yet healthy enough to receive it. Survival rates for people receiving heart transplants have improved, especially in the first year after the transplant.
Fact:
The survival after heart transplant surgery is about \(\text{88}\%\) after the first year, \(\text{75}\%\) after \(\text{5}\) years and \(\text{56}\%\) after 10 years.
Did You Know?
The first human heart transplant was performed on the 3rd December 1967 by Professor Christiaan Barnard, a South African heart surgeon. The patient, Mr Louis Washkansky, unfortunately only survived for 18 days after the surgery. However the cause of death was pneumonia, and not his new heart, which beat strongly till his death.
Heart transplant by Dr Christiaan Barnard.
This lesson is part of:
Animal Systems