Cardiac Transplant

A cardiac (heart) transplant replaces a failing heart with a healthy heart from a donor who has died. It is reserved for end-stage heart failure that no longer responds to medicines, devices or conventional surgery.

It can restore a good quality of life for many years, but it is limited by the shortage of donor hearts and by the lifelong need for anti-rejection medicines and close follow-up. It is not a realistic medical travel procedure, and this page explains why.

What Cardiac Transplant involves

Assessment comes first and takes days to weeks: heart catheter pressure measurements, lung, kidney and liver tests, infection and cancer screening, tissue typing and a psychological and social review. If accepted, you join a national waiting list. When a matching heart becomes available you are called in urgently. Under general anaesthesia the chest is opened through the breastbone, you are placed on a heart-lung machine, the diseased heart is removed and the donor heart is sewn to the great vessels and upper chambers. Once it beats strongly the bypass machine is withdrawn. While waiting, some people need a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) as a bridge.

Who is a good candidate for Cardiac Transplant?

Transplant is considered only when advanced heart failure persists despite optimal treatment and no other serious illness limits survival.

• You have end-stage heart failure with severe symptoms despite full medical and device therapy
• Your other organs, especially lungs and kidneys, work well enough
• You have no active cancer or uncontrolled infection
• You can commit to lifelong medicines and frequent clinic visits
• You have reliable support from family or carers

Es ist normalerweise nicht die richtige Wahl, wenn:

• You have fixed high pressure in the lung arteries
• You have active or recent cancer, or a severe irreversible disease of another organ
• You smoke, or use alcohol or drugs in a harmful way, and have not stopped
• You live abroad and cannot stay near the transplant centre for many months on a waiting list
• You are looking for a way to obtain a donor heart faster by travelling

Technikoptionen

• Orthotopic heart transplant: The standard operation: your heart is removed and the donor heart placed in its position.
• LVAD as bridge to transplant: A mechanical pump supports the left ventricle while you wait; it can also be a long-term therapy in people who cannot be transplanted.
• Combined heart and lung or heart and kidney transplant: Rare, for selected people with failure of both organs, in a few highly specialised centres.

Was passiert während Ihrer Behandlung

The operation takes 4 to 8 hours under general anaesthesia. You are asleep throughout. You wake in intensive care with a breathing tube, chest drains, pacing wires and several infusions, and the tube is usually removed within a day or two. Expect about 1 week in intensive care and 2 to 4 weeks in hospital in total if recovery is smooth.

Vorbereitung auf Ihre Reise

Plan for Not suited to medical travel in Istanbul. Your surgeon reviews photographs and your medical history before you book, and you meet in person the day before surgery for examination, marking and consent with a professional interpreter.

• Stoppen Sie das Rauchen und Nikotin mindestens vier Wochen vor und nach der Operation; es ist die größte vermeidbare Ursache von Wundproblemen
• Erzählen Sie dem Team von allen Medikamenten und Ergänzungen, die Sie einnehmen; Blutverdünner, einige Kräuterprodukte und Hormonbehandlungen müssen möglicherweise auf Anraten Ihres Arztes unterbrochen werden
• Vereinbaren Sie, dass jemand mit Ihnen reist oder erreichbar ist, und halten Sie die ersten Tage zu Hause frei von Arbeit und Heben
• Buchen Sie einen veränderlichen Rückflug; Ihr Chirurg bestätigt, wenn Sie fit sind

Genesung und Ergebnisse

The first 3 months are the most intensive: frequent blood tests, heart biopsies or other rejection checks, and adjustment of anti-rejection drugs. Most people walk daily within weeks and return to ordinary activities by 3 to 6 months. The breastbone takes about 3 months to heal. Anti-rejection medicines are taken for life and follow-up never stops. Typical survival is around 85 to 90 in 100 at one year, with about half of recipients living beyond 12 years.

• Zurück zur alltäglichen Aktivität: 3 bis 6 Monate
• When results show: Improvement over weeks to months
• How long they last: Median over 12 years with lifelong care

Sicherheit, Risiken und Revisionspolitik

A transplant exchanges one serious condition for a managed long-term one. The risks are substantial and continue for life.

• Early failure of the donor heart
• Acute rejection, most common in the first year
• Serious infection because the immune system is suppressed
• Kidney damage, high blood pressure and diabetes from anti-rejection medicines
• Narrowing of the new heart's arteries over years (cardiac allograft vasculopathy)
• Higher long-term risk of skin cancer and lymphoma
• Bleeding, stroke or death around the operation

Jeder schriftliche Vorschlag wird durch Clinic-Y gibt an, was die Klinik abdeckt, wenn eine Korrektur erforderlich ist. Fragen Sie danach, bevor Sie buchen, nicht danach.

Cost of Cardiac Transplant in Türkiye

Clinic-Y does not publish a single price for Cardiac Transplant, because the honest figure depends on your case. What moves it:

• Dauer des Intensiv- und Krankenhausaufenthalts
• Need for an LVAD or other mechanical support before transplant
• Lifelong anti-rejection medicines and monitoring
• Treatment of rejection episodes or infections
• Months of accommodation near the centre for you and a carer

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