How is a heart transplant performed and when is it required?

In this article we will find out how much a heart transplant costs. Transplantology of this organ is a separate field of medicine. It arose at the intersection of immunology and cardiology. Immunology is a science that deals with human immunity and is of great importance in matters of transplant rejection and engraftment (transplanted biomaterial).

The first research carried out in the field of transplantation began in the 50s of the last century. Surgical interventions that ended successfully were carried out by doctors in the USA and South Africa in the 80s. In the USSR, the first such operation was carried out by V.I. Shumakov in 1988. Due to the fact that the immunological basis associated with the host-graft reaction has not been sufficiently studied, the duration and quality of life after surgical manipulation did not correspond to the desired results, and the prognosis was uncertain. Read about the cost of a heart transplant below.

Currently, the level of knowledge has increased significantly and allows such operations to be carried out with a minimal likelihood of complications. In addition, life expectancy after heart transplantation is sufficient (slightly less than half of patients live more than 10 years after the intervention).

In some cases, it is possible to perform repeated transplants, for example, one of the richest people in the world, according to Forbes, D. Rockefeller, underwent his sixth heart transplant at the age of 99.

Many patients suffering from various pathologies and their relatives are interested in how much a heart transplant costs.

Indications for transplantation

Heart transplantation is the least common procedure in cardiac surgery. This is due not only to high financial costs, but also to certain nuances:

1. A limited number of donors are individuals who have a healthy heart but are confirmed brain dead.
2. Long time required to select a donor in accordance with waiting lists. This problem is especially relevant in relation to heart transplant operations for a child.
3. The problem is of an ethical nature, including from the point of view of religion (in particular, according to Christian ideas, a person is considered alive as long as his heart beats).
4. Short shelf life of the donor organ (up to 6 hours).

But, despite the problems described, transplantation operations, although very rare, are carried out, and quite successfully. It is important to find out in advance how much a heart transplant surgery costs.

The main indication for which the patient requires this operation is the final (terminal) stage of heart failure in chronic form, or the third or fourth functional class, not amenable to drug therapy, with a survival prognosis of less than a year in this condition.

It is the symptoms characteristic of the last stage (the occurrence of shortness of breath at rest, significant swelling of the whole body and limbs, significant limitation of activity) in the absence of the effectiveness of conservative treatment that may require a heart transplant. Cost doesn't matter to many people.

Such severe cardiac failure can occur as a result of the following pathologies:

1. Cardiomyopathy. This disease is a condition in which a structural restructuring of the myocardial fibers occurs, replacement with scar tissue, as a result of which the process of contraction and relaxation of the heart muscle is disrupted. Typically, CHF develops with ischemic and dilated cardiomyopathy.
2. Acquired or congenital inoperable defects of the heart muscle.
3. Heart tumors.
4. Severe cardiac arrhythmias and uncontrollable angina that are not amenable to drug treatment and have led to severe impairment of cardiac function.

In addition to the indications listed above, the results of objective research methods (pulmonary artery catheterization, cardiac ultrasound) are taken into account:

1. Absence of severe pulmonary hypertension.
2. The left ventricular ejection fraction is less than 20%.

In addition, when planning surgical intervention, certain conditions must be met:

1. The age of the recipient (the patient undergoing an organ transplant) must be less than 65 years.
2. The patient’s desire to follow a further strict plan of therapy and observation, his compliance.

How much does a child cost?

How much does a child cost?

It depends largely on the age of the child, his race, state of health, and the intended purpose of the criminal intent. African children spend only 10-20 thousand dollars on organs. In Europe (Serbia, Romania, Slovenia, Bulgaria) it is more expensive - from 80 thousand for high-quality material. Individual customer requests here are no cheaper than killing an adult donor. Particularly surprising is the fact that in third world countries, parents often willingly sell their children themselves, without particularly wondering about the purposes of this purchase by third parties. Such a “deal” often costs businessmen mere pennies - $100-300.

Requirements for a donor heart

How much does a heart transplant cost is a pressing question today. To understand this, you need to understand that an organ donor can be a person who is in a coma and whose brain death has been confirmed, and whose cardiac activity is supported in the intensive care unit with the help of equipment. As a rule, such severe patients are observed in hospitals after strokes or road accidents. That is, the person is actually already dead, since his heart works with the help of medications, and he breathes thanks to a ventilator. If the heart of such a person is transplanted into another person, it will be able to work autonomously in the new body. To remove an organ from a patient’s body, doctors need the consent of the patient himself, drawn up while he was still alive, or his relatives. If there are no relatives, or if the patient is not identified, his heart may be removed without official documentation.

A commission consisting of several people, including the head physician of the medical institution where the donor is located, fills out the necessary papers. After this, a specialist from the transplant center arrives, always with an assisting nurse, and performs an operation during which the donor heart is removed, and then placed in a container filled with a cardioplegic solution and transported to the center. What determines how much a heart transplant costs in Russia?

Donor hearts are selected according to the following criteria:

1. There are no malignant tumors.
2. There is no viral hepatitis (B, C), HIV infection.
3. Absence of cardiac pathologies, as confirmed by the results (coronary angiography, cardiac ultrasound, ECG).
4. The blood groups of the recipient and donor are compatible according to the ABO system.
5. The heart sizes of the recipient and heart donor are approximate. The assessment is carried out using ultrasound.

Without harming your health: we sell renewable

Hair

Only long hair can be sold - from 50 cm. Before setting a price, buyers evaluate the quality of the hair: undyed, thin blond hair is most valued: this can be sold for 10 thousand/100 grams. Light brown ones are also valued (4-6 thousand rubles/100 g). Dyed and naturally dark hair is not in price - they are accepted for 1-2 thousand per 100 grams. Split ends, lengths shorter than 50 cm, cascading haircuts dramatically reduce the cost of your hair.

Sperm

Every healthy man between 18 and 35 years old can become a sperm donor (sometimes the upper threshold varies depending on the clinic, but usually does not exceed 40 years). Depending on the center, they pay from 1.5 to 4000 rubles for one change. The money will not be available right away: firstly, you need to undergo a medical examination - donate blood for HIV, hepatitis, undergo a general examination, and lately a DNA test has been increasingly required. Secondly, many clinics pay donors only after testing the material for cryostability, that is, after six months. Before donation, the donor is prohibited from using drugs, tobacco and alcohol, having sex for 3-5 days and visiting baths and saunas.

You can donate sperm 5-6 times a month, but it’s not a fact that the clinic will need that much biomaterial from one donor. In addition, each clinic counts children born from the same donor; if there are more than 20 of them per 800 thousand inhabitants of the region, then you will be denied further admission.

Ovules

Every healthy young (18 - 30, sometimes 35 years old) girl who has given birth to at least one healthy child can become an egg donor. The collection is carried out intravaginally under local anesthesia. The delivery is preceded by a serious medical examination. For one egg they pay from 50 to 80 thousand rubles, you can donate every 3 months and no more than 6-8 times in your life.

The science

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Blood

Every healthy person over 18 years of age and weighing at least 50 kilograms can donate blood at the transfusion station. According to the WHO standard, 450 ml of blood is taken from the donor at a time. Women can donate blood every three months, men more often - once every two months. Compensation depends on the subsistence level established in the region (8 - 45%), sometimes an additional contribution of another 5% is paid. In 2020 in Moscow it is 1200 - 7000 rubles depending on the blood type. A nice bonus is two days of paid vacation, sweet tea and chocolate.

Waiting time for transplant surgery

To understand how much a heart transplant costs in Moscow, let’s first determine the time frame. In order for a patient to undergo surgery, a waiting list is drawn up at the transplant center. These centers cooperate with medical institutions where possible donors can potentially be observed - neurological, trauma and other hospitals. Periodically, the center requests information from hospitals about the availability of possible heart donors, and then matches the list of patients in need of a transplant with available donors in accordance with the selection criteria listed above. The patient can receive a referral to the transplant center from the attending physician - a cardiac surgeon or cardiologist.

A considerable amount of time may pass from the moment the waiting list is drawn up. If a suitable donor is never found, the patient may die due to cardiac failure without receiving a transplant. If a donor is found, the transplant operation will be carried out in the near future.

Since the predicted survival of a patient for such an indication as CHF is less than a year, a donor should be found within this critical period.

Who needs a transplant?

Heart transplantation is indicated for persons suffering from pathology that does not give a chance of life expectancy of more than one year when using conservative treatment methods.

Patients included in this category are diagnosed with:

• Malignant arrhythmia;
• Heart failure;
• Cardiomyopathies;
• Inoperable heart pathologies;
• Angina pectoris, severe heart rhythm disturbances.

Ischemia of soft tissues of the heart

The patient's age should not exceed 65 years.

How much does a heart transplant cost?

All over the world, a law has been passed that prohibits organ trafficking and only family or cadaveric transplants are allowed. In this regard, the patient receives the heart itself free of charge. You will only need to pay for the operation itself, drug support before and after transplantation, as well as the rehabilitation period.

So, how much does a heart transplant cost in Russia? In general, the price varies and ranges from 70-500 thousand dollars. The average cost of a transplant operation is 250 thousand rubles. In the Russian Federation, it is possible to provide citizens with high-tech types of medical care free of charge, as well as to pay for transplantation operations according to quotas (under the compulsory medical insurance system), however, in any case, the possibility of free transplantation and its exact cost should be clarified with the treating specialist.

Where is a heart transplant performed? On the territory of Russia there is only one coordination center that selects donor organs. It operates in the Moscow region and Moscow. Direct heart transplants are performed in the following medical institutions:

1. "North-Western Federal Medical Research Center named after. Almazova V.A.” Federal State Budgetary Institution, located in St. Petersburg.
2. Research Institute of Circulatory Pathology named after. Meshalkina E.N., located in Novosibirsk.
3. Federal Scientific Center for Transplantology and Artificial Organs named after. Shumakova V.I., located in Moscow (FSBI "FNTSTIO").

In recent years, the development of transplantology has begun in Chelyabinsk, namely in the Chelyabinsk Regional Clinical Hospital. What is the cost of a heart transplant in Chelyabinsk? The price must be confirmed with the clinics. But it is not much different from the capital.

In addition, transplantation is also carried out in the capital of Belarus - Minsk. That is, the geography of such operations is rapidly expanding. How much does a heart transplant cost in Minsk? Its price is about 70 thousand dollars.

Due to the fact that in Russia the legal standards for organ donation have not been fully developed, heart transplantation operations are performed very rarely. For example, during 2014, only 200 such manipulations were performed, while approximately 28 thousand transplant operations were performed in the United States during the same period. In addition, due to the legal ban on the removal of donor organs from people under 18 years of age, children requiring heart transplants required expensive treatment abroad (India, Germany and Italy). However, in May 2020, a legislative act was adopted on the procedure for ascertaining brain death in patients older than 1 year. This made it possible for the subsequent development of legislation in the field of child donation.

Question: “How much does a heart transplant cost in Germany?” occurs almost immediately after the decision to undergo surgery is made. Prices vary between clinics. On average this is 400 thousand euros.

How much does a person cost? Prices for human organs

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In our world now everything can be bought and sold. The sale of human organs is no exception . In general, the level of sales of human organs in the world is now increasing. They sell everything now - kidneys, liver, sperm, eggs, bone marrow, hair, and corneas. Man has become a kind of donor for his fellow humans for a long time. If some of the tribes used to eat each other, now they are selling each other . We can talk about both the sale of a person into slavery and the sale of organs.

If you look at it from the other side, a huge number of people in the world need vital organ transplants . Social and government programs in different countries of the world cannot cope with the number of people willing, and there are catastrophically few donors, so those in need most likely will not get their ...

Some potential donors sell their organs to improve their financial situation or to buy an expensive phone, car and other not so important things. Doctors say that a person can live with one kidney, but provided that he leads a healthy lifestyle... True, after parting with his organ, a person will have to infringe on himself in many ways . For example, you can’t drink alcohol, smoke, eat meat, and you can’t eat salty, peppery, spicy, sour, or fatty foods.

Topovik.com team has prepared a price list with prices for human organs, let's find out how much a person costs , let's go...

The most in-demand organ for transplantation is the kidney, accounting for about 75% of the global market. However, many patients never live to receive a donor organ— the waiting list is very long .

In India, one kidney will cost about $15 thousand , and in the USA the price of a kidney can reach up to $262 thousand .

The liver has an amazing ability to regenerate - to destroy it to the point of non-recovery, you need to try very hard . Therefore, a whole liver is not needed for transplantation, but a part of it will do . Part of the liver will cost approximately $54 thousand .

Bones and ligaments come as a “set” . To replace the anterior cruciate ligament of the knee joint you will have to spend $5.5 thousand .

Unlike other organs, which become useless for transplantation within hours or even minutes after the death of the donor, bones and tendons last much longer . Therefore, criminal cases against doctors and morgue workers who “collect” bundles from unclaimed corpses appear especially often . For example, in 2005, the company Biomedical Tissue Services was closed, and its head received a 50-year prison sentence: it turned out that its employees illegally used and sold bone tissue obtained from 244 bodies.

Skin grafts are usually required for severe burns of various natures - thermal, chemical, electrical. Often, it is possible to use the patient’s own skin for this, but sometimes they also resort to the help of donors - usually these are deceased people who, during their lifetime, agreed to use their bodies for the benefit of the living.

An area of ​​skin, or rather a square inch (6.5 sq. cm) will cost $10 .

The cost of a light one, one, will be about $58 thousand . The donor can be a person who does not smoke or smokes no more than 20 packs of cigarettes per year. And by selling both lungs along with the heart, you can get rich by 1.5 - 2 million dollars .

The heart is a non-renewable resource and costs from $57 thousand .

It is almost impossible to get a heart on the black market : an organ transplant is so complex that it requires the participation of a large group of specialists and expensive equipment, and the cost of the operation (legal) is close to $1 million .

The pancreas is valued at up to $44 thousand .

Replacement of this organ may be necessary in severe forms of diabetes. And although not all of the gland can be used for transplantation, it is removed entirely , and even along with the liver and duodenum.

The skeleton costs from 3 to 5 thousand dollars.

Until 1985, Calcutta's famous "skeleton workshops" supplied tens of thousands of specimens to the world market every year. However, today this practice is prohibited , and there are not many legal sources of skeletons left - much less than the real needs of doctors for teaching students. India remains the leader in the world market : numerous bodies of beggars are boiled or cleaned in an acidic environment - and are sold illegally . Fragments of the skeleton can also be sold separately - already for transplantation: a shoulder joint, for example, will bring up to a thousand dollars.

The cornea of ​​one eye costs from 4 thousand dollars .

An easy-to-transport and easy-to-transplant organ, operations have been established more than half a century ago. Today, donor corneas are rapidly being replaced by artificial analogues .

No matter how you feel about the sale of organs, this is real life. Everything is sold and everything can be bought , they say you can’t buy health, but after this article this is a controversial issue. Now it’s not difficult to add up all the numbers in monetary terms and finally find out how much a person is worth ...

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Contraindications for transplantation

Such surgical intervention is contraindicated in the following situations:

1. Severe form of pulmonary hypertension (presence of high pressure in the pulmonary artery).
2. A severe form of diabetes mellitus, in which there is damage to the retina, kidneys, and blood vessels.
3. Active tuberculosis process, HIV infection.
4. Acute forms of infectious diseases.
5. Severe forms of liver and kidney failure.
6. Systemic diseases of an autoimmune nature (rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, others).
7. Severe degree of chronic obstructive disease.
8. Drug and alcohol addiction.
9. Oncological diseases.
10. Acute stages of mental illness.

We talked about the cost of a heart transplant in Moscow.

How is the operation performed?

The transplant begins with the removal of the donor heart from the body. At the same time, the patient is being prepared, who is administered analgesics and sedatives. At this time, the heart is in a special solution.

Next, the patient undergoes a direct incision into the chest under general anesthesia. The recipient's vital activity is supported by machines that support artificial circulation.

Surgeons cut off the ventricles from the heart while maintaining the activity of the atria, which set the rhythm of the organ's contraction. After connecting to the donor atria, a temporary pacemaker is fixed (read the article about the types of devices).

The donor organ is located in two ways:

1. Heterotopic – involves preserving the patient’s heart. The implant is located nearby. Possible complications are compression of organs, formation of blood clots.
2. Orthotopic - the diseased heart is completely replaced by a donor one.

Orthopedic method of heart transplantation
The implant automatically starts working after it is connected to the bloodstream, but sometimes it is started using an electric shock.

The average duration of the operation is about six hours. After it is carried out, the patient is placed in the intensive care unit, where his condition is supported by a pacemaker and an artificial respiration device.

Data on cardiac activity is currently displayed on the cardiac monitor. Fluid is drained from the chest using drainage tubes.

Next comes an equally important stage - immunosuppressive and cardiotonic therapy. Suppressing the immune system can reduce the risk of allergic reactions and rejection.

After the operation, strict bed rest should be observed, and only after a few months you can perform light exercises.

Postoperative complications

Heart transplantation is one of the most difficult operations. Surgical intervention can lead to complications, both during the rehabilitation period and at later stages.

Thus, after the operation, the patient may experience bleeding at the incision site. During this period, the recipient becomes vulnerable to viral, fungal and bacterial infections.

These processes are prevented by taking antibiotics. It is also possible that the process of rejection of the implanted organ and the occurrence of myocardial ischemia may develop.

Symptoms indicating the need for emergency contact with specialists in the field of heart transplantation:

• Constant shortness of breath;
• Arrhythmia;
• Discomfort and chest pain;
• High temperature, chills;
• Indigestion;
• Swelling, fluid retention in tissues;
• Increasing cough;
• Bloody discharge;
• Problems with coordination and balance;
• Headache;
• Changes in blood pressure.

The above manifestations and the slightest deterioration in the patient’s well-being are grounds for hospitalization. Timely diagnosis will allow the pathology to be eliminated without serious complications.

Scheme of recipient heart removal and transplantation

The process of preparing for surgery

If a patient is referred to a transplant center and a decision is made to place him on the waiting list for an organ transplant, he is assigned a special examination plan. The tests required in this case are:

1. Examination by a urologist, gynecologist.
2. Examination by a dentist, otorhinolaryngologist (this is necessary to exclude the presence of chronic infectious foci in the oral cavity and nasopharynx).
3. Examination by a cardiac surgeon.
4. ECG, ultrasound of the heart, CAG (if necessary).
5. General laboratory examination of urine samples.
6. Clinical laboratory examination of blood samples, determination of blood group, coagulation system.
7. Blood tests for markers of syphilis, viral hepatitis, HIV infection.
8. X-ray examination of the chest organs or fluorography.

To be admitted to a transplant center for surgery if a donor is available, the patient must always have copies and originals of the following documentation available:

1. Passport, health insurance policy, SNILS.
2. An extract received from the sending institution and containing the results of all examinations performed.
3. A referral received from a medical institution at the place of registration of the recipient. Information should be collected about the cost of heart transplant surgery.

How to become a donor?

Patients often spend more than one year waiting for a heart transplant, which negatively affects their condition. As a result, many die without waiting for a life-saving transplant.

Heart donors become only after death. The body parameters of the deceased must meet several criteria.

Namely:

• Age up to 45 years;
• Healthy cardiovascular system;
• Negative test result for HIV and hepatitis B and C;
• Brain death.

Most donors are victims of accidents or those killed at work. According to current Russian legislation, the presumption of consent to the removal of internal organs is widespread in the Russian Federation.

So, if a person has not refused posthumous donation while still alive, after death his organs can be used for transplantation. But if the relatives of the deceased refuse this event, the transplant becomes illegal.

Organ Care System

Method of performing transplant surgery

The heart transplant procedure in Moscow begins with the removal of the donor organ from the body and placing it in a container with a cardioplegic solution for no more than 4-6 hours. During this time, preoperative preparation of the recipient is carried out (premedication - sedative and analgesic drugs are administered). Then, in the operating room, using general anesthesia, the recipient's anterior chest wall is cut, large vessels are connected to a machine that performs artificial blood circulation (ACB), which will perform the function of an artificial heart during the operation.

Then the left and right ventricles of the heart are cut off. The atria are preserved. Preserving your own atria allows you to leave the sinus node active, which sets the rhythm of heart contractions and is the pacemaker.

The donor's atria are then sutured to the recipient's atria and a temporary pacemaker is placed to maintain adequate heart rate after transplantation. The chest is sutured and an aseptic bandage is applied. This operation takes several hours, usually no more than 6.

The next stage of surgical intervention is cardiotonic (supporting cardiac activity) and immunosuppressive treatment. Immune suppression (usually through the use of cyclosporine) is required to eliminate rejection reactions and successful graft engraftment.

Artificial heart

Sometimes an “artificial heart” is used to save the patient’s life. It was created by the combined efforts of engineers and cardiac surgeons.

These devices are divided into:

1. Hemooxygenators that support blood circulation during open-heart surgery.
2. Cardiac prostheses are used as a replacement for heart muscle. Allows you to ensure human life at a high quality level.

Devices of this type are widely used to temporarily provide blood circulation, since at the moment the donor heart is less functional than the artificial counterpart.

Artificial heart

Possible complications after transplantation

Among the complications that can occur in the early period after surgery are bleeding from the wound and infectious lesions. The first can be treated quite successfully by reopening the wound and suturing the source of bleeding. To prevent infectious (viral, fungal, bacterial) complications, the patient is prescribed antibiotic medications and an adequate immunosuppression regimen.

In the long-term period after surgery, the development of rejection of the transplanted heart, as well as dysfunction of the coronary arteries, accompanied by myocardial ischemia of the donor organ, is likely.

Complications

Early postoperative period:

• Bleeding and infections. If bleeding occurs, the incision site is opened and the source (site) of bleeding is sutured. To prevent infectious complications, antibiotics are prescribed and immunosuppression is carried out.

Late postoperative period:

• There is a possibility of transplant rejection and disruption of the normal functioning of the coronary arteries, leading to the development of coronary disease.

After the operation, the recipient is left with a scar from the incision on the chest, which begins at the sternoclavicular joint and extends down to the navel. In order not to attract undue attention from others and to live as before, patients are forced to hide it under high-necked clothing, or use special camouflage cosmetics.

The most dangerous and difficult period, requiring maximum adaptation of the body to the new organ, is the first ten days after the transplant.

At the initial stage of engraftment, the following complications may occur:

• graft rejection;
• thrombosis of large arteries and vessels;
• development of the infectious process;
• internal bleeding;
• congestion in the lungs, pneumonia;
• kidney and liver pathologies;
• effusion pericarditis (inflammation of the pericardium, which is accompanied by an increase in effusion fluid in its cavity);
• arrhythmias.

In addition, there are late complications that can appear both during the first year and several years later:

• development of cancer (melanoma, lymphoma, myeloma, etc.);
• myocardial infarction;
• ischemia;
• valvular insufficiency;
• atherosclerosis;
• vascular diseases - vasculopathy.

Lifestyle after transplant

The patient’s lifestyle in the postoperative period after a heart transplantation procedure consists of the following components:

1. Nutrition. It is important for the patient to switch to a healthy lifestyle, completely stop drinking alcoholic beverages and smoking. It is necessary to follow a diet, excluding harmful foods (smoked, fried, fatty, etc.) from your diet.
2. Physical activity. During the first month after surgery, the patient must strictly adhere to the restrictive regime. However, normal daily activity should still be present. After a couple of months, the patient is allowed to return to driving a car, and after a few more, begin light physical activity (walking, gymnastics, etc.).
3. Protection against infections. The patient should try to avoid visiting public places for several months after transplantation and contact with people suffering from infectious diseases. It is equally important to wash your hands thoroughly before eating, drink only boiled water, and eat food that has been well heat-treated. This is due to the fact that due to suppressed immunity, the likelihood of the patient becoming infected with viral, fungal, and bacterial diseases increases after the start of immunosuppressive treatment.
4. Use of medications. This part of a heart transplant patient's life is the most important. The patient must carefully observe the time of taking medications and strictly follow the dosage prescribed by the doctor. As a rule, we are talking about the use of hormonal drugs and cytostatics, the action of which is aimed at suppressing one’s own immunity, which attacks foreign tissue of the heart muscle.

In general, it should be noted that the patient's life after surgery undoubtedly changes significantly, but the quality of life without swelling, palpitations and shortness of breath changes for the better.

How long does it take to get a donor heart?

Finding a donor is a long and complex process, with rare exceptions. On average, the waiting time is up to 2 years. During this period, the patient's health is maintained with medication.

The shortage of donors is an acute problem for modern transplantation centers. Because of this, many people die without waiting for a transplant, because you need to get in line long before this operation is even needed. Serious heart disease progresses quickly and requires emergency treatment.

A patient waiting for a transplant is registered on the so-called waiting list. If a donor is found quickly enough, the operation will be carried out as planned, having previously completed the necessary diagnostic procedures. If the patient's condition worsens before a donor is found, he is hospitalized in the cardiac surgery department.

This is what a photo of a donor heart looks like

Patients who require urgent transplantation to save their lives are moved to the top of the list.

The main difficulty in finding a donor is due to the fact that the transplanted heart must meet certain criteria:

• donor age up to 45 years;
• absence of structural and functional pathologies of the organ;
• absence of disturbances in myocardial contractility;
• matching the blood type and Rh affiliation of the donor and the patient;
• immunological compatibility;
• anatomical correspondence of the size of the donor organ to the size of the patient’s heart (deviation of 20-30% is allowed). Therefore, male hearts are more often transplanted into men, and female hearts into women.
• the donor does not have chronic diseases or bad habits that have a negative impact on the heart.

Heart transplantation from a religious perspective

Previously, when the field of transplantology was just beginning to develop, representatives of almost all religions had mixed opinions in relation to heart transplantation. For example, representatives of Christianity believed that such an operation was not a godly act, since a person’s still living heart was actually taken away. In addition, it is believed that theoretically a person can emerge from a comatose state after a few months. But due to the fact that doctors clearly differentiate the state of coma and brain death, more and more clergy in recent years have begun to say that saving someone else’s life after one’s own death is the true purpose of a believer, since the basis of such an action is sacrifice. And giving your heart is a benefit to other people.

We looked at the cost of a heart transplant in Russia.

How many years do they live after surgery?

Due to the reaction of the body's immune system to a foreign organ, after a heart transplant it is necessary to take medications that do not allow the body to reject the donor heart. A person with a transplanted heart needs to regularly maintain contact with their attending physicians, especially cardiologists. NMRC specialists in the clinic and after discharge will monitor your health and do tests to make sure that your new heart is working correctly. In the first year after surgery, you need to take special care of your health to avoid infectious complications.

In most cases, people do well after surgery. They can go to work and lead an active lifestyle. At the Clinic named after. acad. E.N. Meshalkin several transplantations are performed annually. Experienced specialists carry out this complex procedure at the highest level. Caring medical staff helps make the waiting period for a donor organ and the postoperative period as comfortable as possible for the patient.

The prognosis for life after transplantation is favorable and it is effective. Patients can take care of themselves, maintain moderate physical activity and even ability to work in the most relaxed working conditions. Reviews from people who have undergone surgery simply cannot be negative, simply because it is prescribed only in critical situations and without it, they would already be dead.

According to statistics, after a successful transplantation, the life expectancy of patients increases by 5 to 10 years.

One year after transplantation, 85% of patients survive; then this number decreases due to complications arising in the form of infectious processes and cancer. Mortality several years after transplantation is due to developing pathologies of blood vessels and valves. So, after 5 years, the survival rate is no more than 70%, 45% live more than 10 years, and only 15% live 20 years or more.