Advanced Heart Failure Surgery
Heart failure is not always treated with surgery. However, if your medical team finds a treatable issue that is contributing to your heart failure – like a malfunctioning heart valve or a blocked coronary artery – they may advise you to seek treatment for it. If heart failure is so severe that medicine and lifestyle modifications are not helpful, heart surgery can also be necessary.
Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD)
The heart’s big, muscular chamber that pumps blood out to the body is called the left ventricle. A mechanical pump-style device is an LVAD. While some individuals use this device for all time, it’s typically used as a temporary solution in case surgery or a heart transplant is required.
Heart Transplantation
Medication, additional equipment and procedures, dietary and lifestyle modifications, and other therapies may not be able to help certain individuals with severe, progressive heart failure. A heart transplant may be the only appropriate course of treatment in such circumstances.
The damaged heart is replaced by a healthy one donated by a donor who has been declared brain dead and has proclaimed themselves an organ donor while still living. The search for a donor heart that closely matches the recipient’s tissues may take several months. However, to lower the likelihood of rejection, this matching process is necessary.
A heart-lung machine, which replaces the patient’s heart and lungs, is connected to the patient by the surgeon during the heart transplant surgery. The damaged heart is subsequently removed by the surgeon, who then inserts the donor heart in its place. When all of the major blood veins are restored, the artificial heart is functional.
Your Path to Heart Recovery Starts Here
Dr Udgeath Dhir completely understands the profound impact heart failure can have on your life. That’s why he and his team are dedicated to delivering exceptional care because your health deserves the best.
Don’t wait for your heart condition to worsen. Fix your appointment with Dr Dhir today!
Recovery after Heart Failure Surgery – How it goes!
It takes time to recover from heart transplant surgery, and you’ll need lifetime care for your new heart. A few things that affect how quickly you heal are:
- Age
- Pre-transplant health
- Difficulties following surgery
After surgery, you can usually walk around a few days later and be discharged from the hospital in 10 to 14 days. Most people regain their strength and health after roughly six months.
Frequently Asked Questions
We can intervene to stop the process if a heart biopsy finds evidence of rejection. Your current immunosuppressive medication may be given to you in a different type or at a higher dose.
In extreme circumstances, we might suggest additional tactics to further impair your immune system, like:
- Plasmapheresis: Eliminates dangerous antibodies from your blood
- Utilizing ultraviolet light, photopheresis reduces the activity of specific immune cells.
Radiation therapy is used to reduce the activity of your lymph nodes, which are crucial for the immune response.
After a heart transplant, the outlook is favorable for the recipient. As a matter of fact, following surgery, 90% of patients survive for more than a year, with an average survival time of more than 12 years. Still, there aren’t many people who get heart transplants.
All surgeries carry the risk of bleeding, clots in the blood, and infection. The following are other dangers connected to heart transplantation:
- Primary graft failure
- Rejection of donor’s heart
- Immunosuppressant medication’s side effects
Allograph Vasculopathy