Heart Transplant

Candidates

The ideal heart transplant candidate is a person with end-stage heart disease who is unlikely to receive symptom relief or improve life expectancy on conventional therapy. People who have the following heart conditions may be candidates for transplantation:

• Inoperable coronary artery disease
• Dilated cardiomyopathy
• Hypertrophic or restrictive cardiomyopathy
• Infiltrative cardiomyopathy (including amyloidosis, hemochromatosis)
• Complex congenital heart disease
• Inoperable valvular heart disease
• Hypoplastic left-heart syndrome in the neonate

There is no age restriction for transplantation. In some situations, doctors may consider young people who have multi-organ disease for a multi-organ transplant (heart-lung, heart-liver, heart-kidney or heart-lung-liver). Prior heart surgery, diabetes and previously treated malignancies (cancer) don't necessarily exclude you from transplantation.

Some individuals have other life-threatening disorders that make them unlikely to benefit from heart transplantation or put them at high risk for complications after transplant. The following conditions are examples of health-related situations that may exclude you from heart transplantation:

• Severe pulmonary disease
• Untreated malignancies
• Severe osteopenic bone disease
• Numerous pre-formed antibodies
• Untreated chemical dependency or substance abuse

Mayo Clinic doctors evaluate potential candidates individually. You must be willing to adhere to a regimented medical program and work closely with your medical team to maximize the benefits and reduce the risks of transplantation.

Child and adolescent candidates

Mayo Clinic doctors may consider your child for heart transplantation if one or more of the following conditions exist:

• Progressive deterioration of heart function or overall health despite optimum medical care
• Arrhythmias or has survived a cardiac arrest, and conventional therapy with medicines or an implantable defibrillator hasn't been successful
• Heart failure despite aggressive medical therapy
• An unacceptably poor quality of life
• Increasing pulmonary artery pressure that could prevent heart transplant at a later date
• Your child has a serious form of congenital heart disease, such as left heart syndrome, that likely will result in death within several months

Mayo Clinic doctors evaluate all your child's organ systems when determining whether your child is a candidate for heart transplantation. Doctors also consider the child's and the family's emotional and psychological ability to deal with the stresses associated with heart transplantation.

Your child's doctors may perform many tests, including cardiac catheterization, to determine whether transplantation is the most appropriate option. These tests may be done as an inpatient or outpatient depending on your child's health. These tests may take several days to perform.