Heart Transplant Life Expectancy

A heart transplant is a surgical process where a diseased heart is removed from a patient and is replaced with a donor heart. This process is made possible by a mechanical pump that circulates blood through the body during the surgery. During the lengthy procedure, the 'new' heart is linked to the major blood vessels and connected to a mechanism that temporarily controls the heartbeat.


A heart transplant can drastically improve the person's quality of life and life expectancy. However, waiting lists are long and there is a scarcity of donor organs, which is why they must be judiciously used, to provide maximum benefit. A person is a good candidate for heart transplant if he/she has end-stage heart disease, and is not responding or benefiting from conventional therapy. Most people who have to consider this option are concerned about heart transplant life expectancy and success rate. Read on heart health.

Heart Transplant Life Expectancy


There are a number of factors that influence life expectancy after heart transplant including age, patient compliance, immunological match of donor to recipient and the year in which you were transplanted. However, according to American Heart Association, as of June 5, 2009, the one-year survival rate was 88% for males and 77.2% percent for females; the three-year survival rate was about 79.3% percent for males and 77.2% percent for females. The five-year survival rate was 73.1% percent for males and 67.4% percent for females. Way back in the year two thousand, The Independent covered a story about a heart transplant survivor, in which it said that the longest heart transplant survivor was a 73-year-old American from Michigan who had lived 24 years after the surgery. Thus, in the best of circumstances, heart transplant life span can be as long as this, or in all likelihood, longer.

Heart Transplant Success Rate
The human heart transplantation success rate is related to the risk factors before transplantation. However, on an average, the success rate is close to 95% in most centers. The risks are heightened if the patient is over 60 years of age, is on a ventilator, has an elevated panel reactive antibody level, has had a previous heart transplant, and has high pressures in the pulmonary (lung) blood vessels. However, even in such cases, there are 95% or higher chance of being initially successful. The first 30 days are crucial and if a patient lives through those, there is a close to 90% chance that he/she will be alive at the end of the first year.

Heart Transplant Risks
Our immune systems protect us from potentially harmful substances. An 'foreign' organ and tissue in our bodies would almost always trigger an immune response, which would result in the destruction of the foreign tissue. In order to prevent this from happening, a patient is given strong immuno-suppressive drugs. However, one of the major risks of heart transplant remains rejection of the donor heart by the body. Every 3 to 4 months after an organ transplant, a sample (biopsy) of the heart tissue is tested and an echocardiography, electrocardiography (ECG, EKG), or blood tests are also performed to check for rejection.

While immuno-suppressant drugs are required to suppress your immune system so that it does not reject the donor heart, these drugs may have side effects, including an increased risk of infections and cancer. Steroids given carry side effects such as infections, ulcers, or bone loss.

Heart transplant is usually only considered when all other avenues have been exhausted. Even though it is not really a choice, people are often reluctant to consider it because the cost and wait involved. However, it is also an option that offers hope. After a heart transplant, life expectancy is extended and usually a better quality of life is also achieved.

By Marian K