Heart Transplant
Risks
Risks from heart transplant include:
- Rejection of the donor heart.
- To check for rejection, surgeons will regularly test a sample (biopsy) of the heart tissue and also do echocardiography, electrocardiography (ECG, EKG), or blood tests.
- If your body rejects the heart, you will receive additional drugs (such as immunosuppressants or steroids) to suppress your immune system so that it does not reject the donor heart. These drugs may have serious side effects, including an increased risk of infections and cancer.
- Infection.
- Clogging of the arteries (atherosclerosis) that may develop in the donor heart. (This is usually a complication and is an important limiting factor that affects long-term survival.)
- Death.
| By: | Reference Healthwise Staff | Last Revised: September 12, 2012 |
| Medical Review: | Reference Rakesh K. Pai, MD, FACC - Cardiology, Electrophysiology
Reference Stephen Fort, MD, MRCP, FRCPC - Interventional Cardiology |
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