What is the average waiting time for a heart transplant?

How long is the waiting list? Unfortunately, the waiting times for heart transplants are long – often more than six months. Each patient on our waiting list returns for an outpatient visit to our transplant clinic every two to three months, or more frequently if necessary.

What are the chances of getting a heart transplant?

How bad does your heart have to be to get a transplant?

Transplant success has come a long way since then. Today in the U.S., around 30,000 people receive vital organs each year, and about 1 in 10 of them get a heart.

What makes you eligible for a heart transplant?

A heart transplant may be considered if: you have significant heart failure, where the heart is having trouble pumping enough blood around the body (usually the result of coronary heart disease, cardiomyopathy or congenital heart disease) you have severe symptoms, despite medical treatment.

Who gets a heart transplant first?

Criteria for a Heart Transplant Candidate

Are younger than 69 years old. Have been diagnosed with an end-stage heart disease like cardiomyopathy or coronary artery disease. Have been given a prognosis that suggests you have a risk of mortality within the next year if a heart transplant is not performed.

Who is the longest living heart transplant patient?

On December 3, 1967, 53-year-old Louis Washkansky receives the first human heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa.

Who is not a good candidate for heart transplant?

Green Bay man is nation’s longest-living heart transplant recipient. GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) – When a Green Bay man celebrated his 77th birthday this past Sunday, it continued an amazing distinction. Larry Pleau is the longest-living heart transplant recipient in the country, and is still going strong.

Is it hard to get a heart transplant?

Transplant rejection is very common. It’s common even in people who take all their medicines as prescribed. The most common type of heart transplant rejection is called acute cellular rejection. This happens when your T-cells (part of your immune system) attack the cells of your new heart.

What are the disadvantages of a heart transplant?

Unfortunately, not enough hearts are available for transplant. At any given time, almost 3,500 to 4,000 people are waiting for a heart or heart-lung transplant. A person may wait months for a transplant and more than 25% do not live long enough to get one.

Does blood type have to match for heart transplant?

What are the risks of a heart transplant?
  • Infection.
  • Bleeding during or after the surgery.
  • Blood clots that can cause heart attack, stroke, or lung problems.
  • Breathing problems.
  • Kidney failure.
  • Coronary allograft vasculopathy (CAV).
  • Failure of the donor heart.
  • Death.

Are heart transplants permanent?

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. Some blood types can give to others and some may not. Blood type O is considered the universal donor.

What happens right after a heart transplant?

How much does heart transplant cost?

Heart transplantation is not considered to be a cure for heart disease; rather it is a life-saving treatment intended to improve the quality and duration of life for a recipient.

How many heart transplants are successful?

You will feel tired and sore for several weeks after surgery. You may have some brief, sharp pains on either side of your chest. Your chest, shoulders, and upper back may ache. The incision in your chest may be sore or swollen.

Can you live a normal life after a heart transplant?

Does insurance pay for 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.

What can you not eat after a heart transplant?

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”.)