HEART ASSIST MACHINES: Heart assist machines help a patient survive until a heart transplant can be performed. An implantable ventricular assist device is a mechanical pump that helps a person's heart that is too weak to pump blood through the body. Each pump is connected to a ventricle, the right and the left, to assist the ventricles in pumping blood normally. But in D'Zhana's case, there were no heart or ventricles to connect to the pumps. To remedy the problem, artificial conduits were made to connect blood vessels to the machine, allowing blood to pump though the body.
PROGNOSIS: Once a patient receives a new heart, the heart is seen by the body as a foreign organ, and the patient's immune system may attack the new organ and reject it. Immunosuppressant drugs are often administered to help prevent this from happening. The life expectancy of a transplanted heart is not forever. On average, the life expectancy is about 15 years, which means a patient that has received a heart transplant will potentially face the need for a second transplant after 15 years. This process, called chronic rejection, happens even though a patient is taking immune suppressive medications. The chronic small process of rejection occurs over many years, and at some point becomes so advanced the transplanted heart starts to lose its function and a new heart must replace it.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Omar Montejo
University of Miami Office of Communication
(305) 243-5654
omontejo@miami.edu
