Heart-lung transplant
After having a heart-lung transplant, one of the biggest risks is that your body will reject your new heart and lungs.
There is also a chance your new heart and lungs won't work properly, or you could develop serious infections because your immunosuppressant medication will weaken your immune system.
Rejection can occur soon after transplant surgery, or several months or years later.
It doesn't always cause any obvious symptoms, but possible symptoms can include:
If you have any worrying symptoms, you should contact your transplant centre as soon as possible. Rejection can usually be treated by increasing your dose of immunosuppressant medication.
Bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) is a relatively commonform of lung rejection thatcan occur in the yearsafter a heart-lungtransplant. In BOS, the immune system causes the airways inside the lungs to become inflamed, which blocks the flow of oxygen through the lungs.
Symptoms include:
It may be treated by giving you additional immunosuppressant medication.
Although generally uncommon after a heart-lung transplant, sometimes theblood vessels connected to the donor heart can become narrowed and hardened. This is known as cardiac allograft vasculopathy or coronary artery vasculopathy (CAV).
CAV is potentially serious as it can restrict the supply of blood to the heart, which can sometimes trigger a heart attack or lead to heart failure . Because of this risk, you may have regular check-ups after your transplant to check whether your heart is receiving enough blood.
Treatment options for CAV include statins and calcium channel blockers (medication to help widen blood vessels).
Immunosuppressant medication will weaken your immune system and make you more vulnerable to infection, including bacterial, fungal and cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections.
Signs of a possible infection can include:
If you think you may have an infection, contact your GP or transplant team. Depending on the type of infection you have, you may need treatment with antibiotics , antifungals or antivirals.
As a precaution, you may be given antibiotic, antifungalor antiviral medication for a few months after your transplant to protect you from serious infections.
You should also do what you can to reduce your risk of picking up an infection, particularly in the early stages of recovery. You should try to:
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A heart-lung transplant is a major and rarely performed surgical procedure where a person's diseased heart and lungs are replaced with those of a recently deceased donor. A heart-lung transplant is the only treatment available for people who have combined heart and lung failure when all other treatment options have failed.
If a heart-lung transplant is thought to be a potential treatment for you, you'll be asked to have an assessment before potentially being placed on the transplant waiting list.
Following a heart-lung transplant, you'll probably need to stay in a hospital intensive care unit (ICU) for a few days. This is because: you'll need to be carefully monitored to make sure the organs are working, there's a risk your body may suddenly reject the new organs, etc.
One of the biggest risks after having a heart-lung transplant is that, despite taking immunosuppressants, your body will reject the new heart and lungs.