Eligibility for a heart transplant at the Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute is determined by a heart transplant team including a transplant surgeon, transplant cardiologist, one or more transplant nurses, a social worker, and a psychiatrist or psychologist.
Once you have been accepted as a transplant candidate, you will be placed on the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) list. Heart recipients are selected based on the severity of their condition and their blood type. When your donor heart is received you will be notified and told to come to the hospital immediately so you can be prepared for the transplant.
Heart transplant procedures will vary depending on your condition and your physician's practices, but all heart transplants require a stay in the hospital.
After heart transplant surgery patients may be taken to the recovery room or the intensive care unit (ICU) to be closely monitored for several days. They are connected to monitors that constantly display electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) tracing, blood pressure, other pressure readings, breathing rate, and oxygen levels. Heart transplant surgery requires an in-hospital stay of seven to 14 days, or longer.
To fight rejection and allow the transplanted heart to survive in your body, you will be given medications for the rest of your life.
Heart transplant patients are referred to us from across the US, especially from surrounding states including: Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Missouri, Nebraska and Louisiana.
