Heart
Heart Home Patient InformationPossible Complications
Rejection
Rejection is the most common complication following transplant surgery. It is caused when the body’s immune system naturally defends itself against foreign agents, such as viruses or bacteria. This natural defense system will treat a transplanted organ as foreign and will try to reject the new heart. To prevent your body from rejecting your new heart, you will take medications called immunosuppressants to suppress the immune response that rejects the foreign tissue.
Infection
As a heart transplant recipient, you will be more susceptible to infection because you will take immunosuppressant medications to help prevent rejection. The risk of infection from bacteria and viruses is greatest in the early period after transplant when dosages of medicines are at their highest.
Hypertension/High Blood Pressure
Many transplant recipients take medications to control hypertension or high blood pressure since prednisone and cyclosporine, two of the medications used to limit rejection, can raise blood pressure.
Renal (Kidney) Dysfunction
Some of the medications that patients are required to take after transplant to prevent rejection can have an adverse effect of the kidney’s filtering function. The transplant team will use caution when considering the use of other drugs that can also be toxic to the kidneys in light of the potential adverse effects of the transplant medications.
Hyperlipidemia/High Cholesterol
Hyperlipidemia can occur early post-transplant and affects 60-80% of heart transplant recipients due to the effects of cyclosporine and Prograf. Patients are placed on a cholesterol lowering medication immediately following transplant for lipid control and it’s beneficial effects on lowering the risk of transplant coronary artery disease.
Transplant Coronary Artery Disease
In some cases, the arteries in the transplanted heart narrow over time, resulting in graft (transplant) coronary artery disease. This may be caused by a different type of rejection of the heart by the body’s immune system.