Heart Transplant (cont.)
What are the results of a heart transplant?
When all potential problems are considered, the results of transplantation
are remarkably good. Keep in mind that heart failure is a very serious and
life-threatening disease. In patients with severe forms of heart failure that
require transplantation, the one year mortality rate (that is the percent of
patients who die in within one year) is 80%. Overall, five year survival in
patients with any form of heart failure is less than 50%. Compare these outcomes
with cardiac transplant. After heart transplant, five year survival
averages about 50%-60%. One year survival averages about 85%-90%.
What are the complications of a heart transplant?
One might ask, "Why is survival no better than it is after a heart transplant?"
Good question. As part of our defense mechanism to fight off infection and even
cancer, our bodies have an "immune system" to recognize and eliminate foreign
tissues such as viruses and bacteria. Unfortunately, our immune system also
attacks transplanted organs. This is what happens when organs are rejected; they
are recognized as foreign by the body. Rejection can be controlled with powerful
"immunosuppressive" medications. If there is not enough immunosuppression the
organ can reject acutely. Even when it seems that there is no active rejection,
there may be more subtle chronic rejection that consists of a growth of tissue,
something like scar tissue, which causes blockage of the blood vessels of the
heart. The blockage of the vessels is the process that ultimately causes the
transplanted heart to fail. It is this chronic rejection that is the major
limiting factor for the long-term success of heart transplantation.
Unfortunately, immunosuppression is a double-edged sword. While
immunosuppression blocks rejection, because it suppresses the immune system, transplant patients are more susceptible to infection and cancers of various types. Among older transplantation patients, as survival has improved, more patients are eventually dying from cancers.
Next: How does a heart transplant patient know if he or she is rejecting the
donor organ or developing an infection? »
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