Heart Transplant Surgery – How It Works & Its Benefits
A donor replaces a damaged or sick heart with a heart in good condition during a life-saving assistance heart transplant surgery. This operation has been carried out successfully for many years and has assisted in extending the lives of many people with severe heart diseases. Heart transplants cost a fortune; some people can not afford such expensive surgeries. This article will examine the operation of a heart transplant and its advantages for people in need. We’ll also talk briefly about some of the dangers and factors involved with having a heart transplant.
What is a heart transplant?
During a heart transplant, an organ donor’s healthy heart is surgically substituted for the patient’s sick heart. Two or more medical professionals must certify the donor as brain dead before removing the heart. A healthcare professional must determine that a heart transplant is the best treatment for your heart failure before you may be placed on a waiting list for one. A medical team also confirms that you are in good health before transplantation.
What happens during a heart transplant?
Open heart surgery and a hospital stay are necessary for a heart transplant. Depending on your situation and the methods used by your healthcare professional, procedures could change. A heart transplant often goes like this:
- Any jewellery or other things that can obstruct the operation will need to be removed.
- After that, you’ll put on a hospital gown.
- In order to administer IV fluids and administer medication, a medical expert will begin an intravenous line in your hand or arm. Take the blood sample results and observe your heart’s health. Blood pressure and catheters will be inserted into the blood arteries in your neck and wrist. Under the collarbone and the groyne is two additional locations for the catheters.
- A soft, flexible tube called a Foley catheter will be inserted to drain your bladder.
- Your mouth or nose will be used to insert a tube into your stomach, which will be used to empty any stomach contents.
- Your chest may be shaved if there is a lot of hair there.
- You will undergo heart transplant surgery while you are unconscious under general anaesthesia. A respiring tube will be inserted into your lungs through your mouth once you are unconscious. A device ventilator that will breathe for you during the procedure will be connected to the tube.
- The anesthesiologist will monitor your blood pressure, oxygen level, and heart rate throughout the procedure.
- An antiseptic solution will be used to clean the skin on your chest.
- The surgeon will cut your chest down the middle, from just below Adam’s apple to just above the navel.
- Your heart will be interrupted and substituted while tubes are inserted into your chest to allow a heart-lung cardiopulmonary bypass machine to circulate blood through your body.
- Your doctor will remove the injured heart once all blood has been completely diverted into the bypass system and the machine is circulating it.
- The donor heart will be stitched into place by the surgeon. After inserting a substitute heart, he or she must carefully link the blood vessels to avoid leaks.
- After the substitute heart has been properly integrated, the conduits connected to the equipment will be removed, and the blood currently flowing through the bypass or circumvent machine will be permitted to enter the heart again. Your surgeon will use small paddles to shock the heart.
- Your physician will remove the ailing heart once all blood has been entirely switched to the bypass device and is being pumped by the device.
- Blood and other fluids from the area around your heart will be drained using tubes inserted into your chest. These passageways will be connected to a suction apparatus, and fluids will be removed from the heart while it recovers.
- It will be covered with a sterile bandage or dressing.
What are The Benefits of Heart Transplant Surgery
The most effective treatment for heart failure in properly chosen people who are healthy enough for the procedure is typically a heart transplant. The principal benefits of an effective heart transplant include the following:
- Most recipients of heart transplants live longer
- The majority of heart transplant recipients have a higher quality of life.
- Higher levels of energy
- Better overall health, simpler work and travel
The Final Conlusion:
For patients with severe heart diseases, heart transplant surgery is a challenging and life-saving treatment that can have a big impact. This procedure can assist in extending the lives of people for whom there may be little hope otherwise by substituting an unhealthy heart with one that is functioning properly from a donor.
The advantages this surgery offers in terms of a higher quality of life and a longer lifespan cannot be emphasised, despite the dangers and concerns involved. We may anticipate that heart transplant surgery will become increasingly more efficient and widely available as medical technology develops, giving hope and improved health to those who need it.
