The final stage of heart failure is called end-stage heart failure. The heart muscle’s ability to circulate blood throughout the body is drastically deteriorating, and no effective treatments exist. A diagnosis of heart failure, despite its name, does not indicate that the heart is going to stop beating. Failure refers to the heart muscle’s inability to pump blood normally due to injury, extreme weakness, or both.
A heart transplant involves surgery to remove a patient’s damaged heart and replace it with a healthy donor heart. The donor can be deceased or must be declared brain dead by two or more medical professionals before the donor’s heart can be removed.
A heart specialist must determine that a heart transplant is the best course of action for treating heart failure before they can put one on the waiting list. A medical team also verifies that the candidate is in satisfactory overall health to undergo the transplant procedure.
Is there any alternative to a heart transplant surgery?
Ventricular Assist Devices (VAD) are an alternative for some individuals who are not candidates for heart transplantation. A mechanical pump called a VAD is inserted into your chest to assist in pumping blood to the rest of your body from the ventricles, the bottom chambers of your heart.
VADs are frequently utilized as short-term therapies for patients awaiting heart transplants. The use of these devices as a long-term treatment for heart failure patients unsuitable for heart transplants is increasing. The doctors consider it as an alternate short-term treatment.
