- Emergency
- Coronary heart disease.
- Valvular heart disease.
- Diseases of the thoracic vessels.
- Arrhythmias.
- Transplantation.
- Heart transplant
- Indications.
- Organ donation.
- Guidelines for organ mediation.
- Inclusion on the waiting list.
- Examinations before inclusion on the waiting list.
- Regular check-ups prior to transplantation.
- The heart transplant call.
- The transplantation.
- The first days after the transplant.
- Postoperative immunosuppression.
- Other medications.
- Medication times.
- Postoperative complications and rejection reactions.
- Complications due to infections.
- Check-ups.
- How do I do things correctly.
- Lung transplantation.
- Combined transplantation.
- Heart transplant
The first days after the transplant
If there are no complications, the patient wakes up again within a few hours after arriving in the intensive care unit. At this time, he is still connected to a ventilator.
As soon as the patient is breathing adequately, heart function is satisfactory without the support of medications and the kidneys are functioning again, the patient can be transferred to an ordinary ward. This is normally the case after two to seven days for patients with no major complications. The patient is now mobilised. With the assistance and instructions of the nursing staff and physiotherapists, each patient must get up from bed as soon as possible, wash himself (with assistance) and perform breathing exercises.
The recipient will now remain in the transplant centre as an inpatient for one to two weeks. This time is utilised to optimise drug therapy, adjust the immunosuppressive medications individually and detect any rejection in this early postoperative period. As soon as the patient’s medications have been well adjusted and no further complications have occurred, he can be transferred to a follow-up clinic.
The most important thing for “afterwards" is learning to take a certain amount of personal responsibility for one’s own health. This personal responsibility is learned very quickly with the correct attitude. Apart from their personal attitude, the patients very quickly acquire the necessary basic knowledge from their doctors and the nursing staff.