Doctors recommend heart transplant surgery for saving lives of people, who will be able to live without undergoing this intervention. The process of heart transplant involves surgical removal of the original heart of the individual that was functioning poorly and the replacement of it with heart of any deceased donor. Although this procedure appears to only offer benefits, there are certain cons of it. The cons of a heart transplant surgery are: Expenses: Not everyone can undergo heart transplants. The procedure is extremely expensive mainly due to the complex steps involved in it, the medications that are needed to be taken all through the remaining life and the time the patient will  [...]

Heart ablation or cardiac ablation is used for treating some heart arrhythmias types. Like majority of the surgical procedures, cardiac ablation might also result in some side effects. The most common one among them are: Bleeding: A person undergoing heart ablation might experience minor bruising or bleeding on the site of the operation i.e. in the region, through which the catheter has been inserted. If the heart patient was taking blood thinners before the surgery, he is likely to experience more severe bruising or bleeding. If you are experiencing severe bruising or bleeding after undergoing cardiac ablation you should seek immediate medical help. Trauma to the cardiovascular system: Some patients undergoing heart ablation might develop structural damage of cardiovascular system; this damage mostly occurs due to the catheter used  [...]

20% of the ischemic strokes occurring every year happen due to blood clotting in the heart. Often doctors recommend blood thinners to patients, who are at risk of developing blood clots or are already having blood clots in their heart. Below we have discussed the 4 most common blood-thinning medications prescribed by heart specialists. Warfarin It is the most commonly prescribed blood thinning medicine. The anticoagulant effects of warfarin functions by reducing the vitamin K levels in blood; as the level of the vitamin decreases the blood clotting procedure is also controlled. When a patient is under the dosage of warfarin, he must be monitored closely by a medical expert; it must be made sure that anti-clotting mechanism of this drug does not get influenced by any other medication or diet. When warfarin is taken orally, generally dosage of 10mg, 7.5mg, 5mg,  [...]

How much time the patient undergoing the heart transplant surgery will need to spend at the hospital may vary from one person to the other. The usual hospital stay after the surgery is between 1 and 2 weeks; following that there’s a period of 3 months when the patient is monitored by members of transplant team at heart transplant centers. During this 3 month phase and sometimes even after that the patient may experience problems that may be signs of rejection. What the term ‘rejection’ means in the context of a heart transplant surgery? The heart transplanted in the body of the patient by removing his original heart is a foreign body and can be attacked by the patient’s immune system. This happens more commonly in the patients who do not get adequate medication for suppressing their immune system following the surgery. The patient with assistance from the members of transplant team protects the newly transplanted heart by staying alert about occurrence of any sign of rejection.  [...]

Cardiologists often recommend patients suffering from slow and irregular heartbeats to undergo surgery for pacemaker installation. When the pacemaker in inserted and connected to the heart of a person and programmed, it ensures that his heartbeat stays regular i.e. fast enough for providing oxygen and necessary nutrients a person requires to live. The procedure of pacemaker can be carried out both in an operation theater or a cardiac catheterization clinic. How much time a person will need for recovering fully after the pacemaker implantation depends on his health condition during the operation, the device type installed and of course on the hospital’s organizational protocols. Other than all these, the patient and his family members must follow the guidelines provided below to avoid any ill consequence. 1.  While returning home,  [...]