How painful is a heart transplant?

Generally, most patients do not report a lot of pain after heart transplant surgery. The incision does cause pain or discomfort when you cough.

What happens if your body rejects a heart transplant?

With humoral rejection, antibodies injure the blood vessels in your body, including your coronary arteries. This can cause problems with blood flow to the heart. Heart transplant rejection can also be long-term (chronic). Coronary artery vasculopathy is a form of chronic rejection.

How expensive is a heart transplant?

Consulting firm Milliman tallies the average costs of different organ transplants in the U.S. And while most are expensive—some are very expensive. A kidney transplant runs just over $400,000. The cost for the average heart transplant, on the other hand, can approach $1.4 million.

Does a heart transplant cure cardiomyopathy?

Heart transplantation can be a life saving therapeutic option for patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in a burn-out end-stage phase. Patients showing signs or symptoms of advanced heart failure should be early considered for aggressive management.

What’s more important brain or heart?

Many people would probably think it’s the heart, however, it’s the brain! While your heart is a vital organ, the brain (and the nervous system that attaches to the brain) make up the most critical organ system in the human body.

What percentage of heart transplants are successful?

Survival — Approximately 85 to 90 percent of heart transplant patients are living one year after their surgery, with an annual death rate of approximately 4 percent thereafter. The three-year survival approaches 75 percent. (See “Heart transplantation in adults: Prognosis”.)

What needs to match for a heart transplant?

Blood Typing The most common blood type in the population is type O. The next most common is blood type A, then B, and the rarest is blood type AB. The blood type of the donor must be compatible with the recipient. The rules for blood type in transplantation are the same as they are for blood transfusion.