Specility

Heart transplants are performed when other treatments for heart problems haven't worked, leading to heart failure. In adults, heart failure can be caused by:

• A weakening of the heart muscle (cardiomyopathy)
• Coronary artery disease
• Heart valve disease
• A heart problem you're born with (congenital heart defect)
• Dangerous recurring abnormal heart rhythms (ventricular arrhythmias) not controlled by other treatments
• Failure of a previous heart transplant

In children, heart failure is most often caused by either a congenital heart defect or cardiomyopathy.

Another organ transplant may be performed at the same time as a heart transplant (multiorgan transplant) in people with certain conditions at select medical centers.

Multiorgan transplants include:

• Heart-kidney transplant. This procedure may be an option for some people with kidney failure in addition to heart failure.
• Heart-liver transplant. This procedure may be an option for people with certain liver and heart conditions.
• Heart-lung transplant. Rarely, doctors may suggest this procedure for some people with severe lung and heart diseases if the conditions cannot be treated with only a heart transplant or a lung transplant.

A heart transplant is not right for everyone, however. You might not be a good candidate for a heart transplant if you:

• Are at an advanced age that would interfere with the ability to recover from transplant surgery
• Have another medical condition that could shorten your life, regardless of receiving a donor heart, such as a serious kidney, liver or lung disease
• Have an active infection
• Have a recent personal medical history of cancer
• Are unwilling or unable to make lifestyle changes necessary to keep your donor heart healthy, such as not using recreational drugs, not smoking and limiting alcohol use