A heart transplant is a surgical procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure when other treatments have failed, most often taking a functioning heart from a deceased donor who has been declared brain dead and implanting it into the recipient. In the usual orthotopic procedure the patient's own diseased heart is removed and replaced with the donor heart, while in the much less common heterotopic transplant the patient's heart is left in place to support the new one. Roughly 5,000 heart transplants are performed worldwide each year, more than half of them in the United States, with average post-operative survival of about 15 years; the procedure is not considered curative but is intended as a life-saving treatment that improves the quality and duration of a recipient's life.
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Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationWikipedia, Heart transplantation, History section
Patient Louis Washkansky received this transplant on December 3, 1967, at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_transplantation, lead section
A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure when other medical or surgical treatments have failed.
View the Source Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between an orthotopic and a heterotopic heart transplant?
Orthotopic replaces the recipient's heart; heterotopic leaves it in place to support the donor heart.
In the usual orthotopic procedure the patient's own diseased heart is removed and replaced with the donor heart. In the much less common heterotopic transplant the patient's own heart is left in place and the donor heart is added to support it. The atlas dates the modern operation to 1967. Roughly 5,000 heart transplants are performed worldwide each year, and the procedure is described as life-saving and life-extending rather than curative. This entry records history and is not medical advice.
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