- 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
Examinations before inclusion on the waiting list
Before inclusion on the waiting list, it is important to clarify whether the patient is suitable for transplantation from the medical aspect (apart from his severe heart disease). It must be possible to perform transplantation with an acceptable risk.
Apart from detailed investigation of the heart and circulation, lung function is tested and the patient’s entire physical status is analysed. Comprehensive blood tests are done to rule out latent malignant disease and chronic infections. As part of the cardiovascular investigations, right heart catheterisation is performed in order to measure the pressures in the pulmonary circulation.
Psychiatric and psychosomatic diseases are investigated, assessed and treated if necessary. Once all the investigations have been completed, the results are assembled and passed on to the transplant centre. A committee consisting of cardiologists and cardiac surgeons decides whether the patient, if he so wishes, can and should be included on the waiting list. Anaesthetists may also be involved in order to assess the patient’s operability from the anaesthesiological aspect.