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Heart Transplant Center - Victoria, TX

Victoria Cardiothoracic Surgeon Doctors for Heart Transplant

Type of Physician: Cardiothoracic Surgeon

What is a Cardiothoracic Surgeon?

A certification by the Board of Thoracic Surgery; practitioners are skilled in patient care before, during and after surgery, and the critical care of patients with pathologic conditions within the chest. The management of the airway and injuries of the chest is within the scope of the specialty.

Specialty: Cardiothoracic Surgery

Common Name: Chest Surgeon

Cardiothoracic Surgeon Doctors in Victoria *

South Texas Medical Clinics PA Wharton
James J Livesay
2100 Regional Medical Dr
Wharton, TX 77488
(979) 532-1700

Javier Alonso MD
Javier Alonso
613 Elizabeth St
STE 703
Corpus Christi, TX 78404
(361) 991-6611

Sergio Tavares MD
Sergio Tavares
601 Texan Trl
STE 205
Corpus Christi, TX 78404
(361) 884-7081

Mark S Hickman MD
Mark Hickman
598 N Union Ave
STE 200
New Braunfels, TX 78130
(830) 625-6259

Victoria, Texas

Upcoming Local Events

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Heart Transplant

Introduction to heart transplant

The idea of replacing a bad organ with a good one has been documented in ancient mythology. The first real organ transplants were probably skin grafts that may have been done in India as early as the second century B.C. The first heart transplant in any animal is credited to Vladimer Demikhov. Working in Moscow in 1946, Demikhov switched the hearts between two dogs. The dogs survived the surgery. The first heart transplant in human beings was done in South Africa in 1967 by Dr. Christiaan Barnard; the patient only lived 18 days. Most of the research that led to successful heart transplantation took place in the United States at Stanford University under the leadership of Dr. Norman Shumway. Once Stanford started reporting better results, other centers started doing heart transplants. However, successful transplantation of a human heart was not ready for widespread clinical application until medications were developed to prevent the recipient from "rejecting" the donor heart. This happened in 1983 when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a drug called cyclosporine (Gengraf, Neoral). Before the advent of cyclosporine, overall results of heart transplant were not very good.

What is a heart transplant?

Believe it or not, heart transplantation is a relatively simple operation for a cardiac surgeon. In fact, the procedure actually consists of three operations.

The first operation is harvesting the heart from the donor. The donor is usually an unfortunate person who has suffered irreversible brain injury, called "brain death". Very often these are patients who have had major trauma to the head, for example, in an automobile accident. The victim's organs, other than the brain, are working well with the help of medications and other "life support" that may include a respirator or other devices...

Recommended Reading Related to Heart Transplant

Myocardial Biopsy »

Myocardial Biopsy Introduction

A heart biopsy, also called myocardial biopsy or cardiac biopsy, is an invasive procedure to detect heart disease that involves using a bioptome (a small catheter with a grasping device on the end) to obtain a small piece of heart muscle tissue that is sent to a laboratory for analysis.

Why Do I Need a Myocardial Biopsy?

Your doctor uses myocardial biopsy to:

  • Evaluate or confirm the presence of rejection after heart transplant.
  • Diagnose myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) or certain other cardiac disorders such as cardiomyopathy or cardiac amyloidosis.

How Should I Prepare for a Heart Biopsy?

To prepare yourself for a heart biopsy you should know these things:

  • The procedure takes place in the hospital. Usually, you will come to the hospital the day of the test and it is performed as an outpatient procedure. In ...

Emergency Contact for Victoria

  • In case of Emergency, call 911

Nearby Victoria Hospitals *

DeTar Hospital Navarro
506 E San Antonio St
Victoria, TX 77901
(361)575-7441

Triumph Hospital
506 E San Antonio St
Victoria, TX 77901
(361)575-1445

Citizens Medical Center
2701 Hospital Dr
Victoria, TX 77901
(361)573-9181

DeTar Hospital North
101 Medical Dr
Victoria, TX 77904
(361)573-6100

Victoria Warm Springs Rehabilitation Hospital
102 Medical Dr
Victoria, TX 77904
(361)576-6200

Devereux Victoria Center
120 David Wade Dr
Victoria, TX 77905
(361)575-8271

Jackson HealthCare Center
1013 S Wells St
Edna, TX 77957
(361)782-5241

Memorial Medical Center Port Lavaca
815 N Virginia St
Port Lavaca, TX 77979
(361)552-6713

Cuero Communty Hospital
2550 N Espanade St
Cuero, TX 77954
(361)275-6191

Yoakum Community Hospital
1200 Carl Ramert Dr
Yoakum, TX 77995
(361)293-2321

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