心脏移植手术

A heart transplant gives a patient the opportunity to have a normal heart with normal blood circulation. If the transplant goes well, heart function and blood flow will be better than ever. 

什么是心脏移植?

A heart transplant replaces the patient's failing heart with a donor heart. 心脏衰竭可能是由于 心脏衰竭, 冠心病, 心率不齐 或者其他严重的心脏疾病. In the procedure, doctors remove the patient's heart. The surgeon connects the donor heart by sewing together the recipient and donor vena cavae (two large veins that bring blood back from the upper and lower body), 主动脉, 肺动脉和左心房. 在患有 先天性心脏病, the surgeon might also transplant the lungs with the heart. 

移植对心脏有什么影响?

The donor heart is matched to the recipient by blood type and body size. 心脏移植后, your medical team will monitor you closely for heart rejection, which can happen in the heart muscle cells or in the heart's arteries. 作为一个心脏移植接受者, you must take immunosuppressive medications to prevent your immune system from rejecting the new heart. Your medical team will balance the amount of immunosuppressive medication you need to prevent rejection of your new heart with the risk of side effects, 包括感染和癌症吗.

What can I expect if my child is a heart transplant recipient?

当一个孩子接受心脏移植时, the transplanted heart grows to adult size as the patient grows. Your child will need to take immunosuppressive medications and other medicine for the rest of his or her life to control the sides effects of the transplant. 在青年时期, your child's medical care will be transitioned from a pediatric to an adult heart transplant cardiologist.

医学随访

You will require regular checkups by a transplant cardiologist after your transplant. 在这些访问中, your cardiologist will do blood tests to check the levels of your immunosuppressive drugs and look for side effects. The doctor might also order electrocardiogram (EKG), echocardiogram and Holter monitoring to help monitor your heart rhythm and function, 或者心肌癌活检, which is a diagnostic procedure to obtain samples of heart muscle to detect rejection of the donor heart. Your doctor will evaluate your coronary arteries yearly or every other year to monitor for signs of narrowed coronary arteries in your transplanted heart. You should also have routine medical checkups to maintain overall health.

活动的限制

Heart transplant recipients have no specific activity restrictions. Discuss activity ideas with your transplant cardiologist.

心内膜炎的预防

心内膜炎 is an infection of the inner lining of the heart. While some people who have 先天性心脏病 must take antibiotics prior to some medical and dental procedures to prevent endocarditis, most heart transplant recipients don't need them unless they also have significant heart valve disease.

怀孕

Women who have had a transplant could have complications during 怀孕. Depending on the type, immunosuppressive medications may negatively affect the fetus. You may also have a greater risk of rejection once the baby is born. 如果你正在考虑 怀孕, discuss the pros and cons with your transplant cardiologist and obstetrician. 

我还需要做手术吗?

A transplant heart can help you lead a more active, 充实的生活, but there may be times when additional surgery is required. For instance, if the rhythm of your transplant heart becomes slow, you may need to have a pacemaker. 很少, a valve can become damaged by the endomyocardial biopsy procedure; if that happens it will need to be repaired or replaced. Patients with 先天性心脏病 who have had a coarctation repair or problems with narrow or small pulmonary arteries may need surgery or interventional catheterization after the transplant to increase the size of these areas. 有时, a transplanted heart may fail because of rejection, damage to the heart cells or coronary arteries of the heart, 什么会导致心力衰竭. If this happens, doctors can sometimes transplant another heart.