Topic

Heart transplants
Background
Today I’m going to talk you about heart transplants. I’ll be brief because this is an expansive topic and time constrains do not allow me to provide you with the fullpicture.
The world's first human heart transplant was performed by Christiaan Barnard in 1967 in Cape Town South Africa. Worldwide there are 3,500 heart transplants performed every year. This hasspurred considerable research into the use of non-human hearts since 1993. Additionally It is now possible to take a heart from another species (commonly pigs) or implant a man-made artificial one,although the outcome of these two procedures has been less successful. Engineers are working towards fixing the remaining problems with the artificial heart in the next 15 years.
A heart transplant is aprocedure in which a surgeon removes a diseased heart and replaces it. The procedure takes several hours, between 5 and 9 hours.
To prevent the patient’s body from rejecting the transplanted organ,they will be prescribed immunosuppressants immediately after surgery, and must continue to take them for their entire life.
People who receive transplants often need a cardiac rehabilitation programto reduce the likelihood of long-term heart failure. The body is only used to our original heart, any other organ may substitute it but only partially.
Transplant Criteria
A heart transplant may beconsidered when a person has severe heart disease and is likely to benefit from a donor heart. A person might be a candidate when:
* The person has end-stage heart failure, ischemic heart disease,or congenital heart disease.
* The person has no other serious medical conditions that would reduce his or her life expectancy.
* The doctor strongly expects that a heart transplant willincrease their life span and improve the person's quality of life.
At some centers, transplant candidates must demonstrate that they have stopped smoking and/or overusing alcohol for a substantial...