Heart Transplantation, by the numbers
1967 - The year the first heart transplant was performed.
90 - Percent of heart transplant patients who are adults. Children make up the remaining 10 percent.
2,332 - Number of Americans who had heart transplants in 2011. About 2,000 transplants take place in the U.S. each year.
4-6 - Number of hours a donated heart can be kept outside the body.
1 - The number of people it takes to decide your donor status.
But if we take away the early mortality, so that portion of patients that die in the first year, where the mortality after heart transplantation is more pronounced, the survival is more around 20 – 22 years – the median survival. So it’s a long term proposition. And most important, it’s an amazing quality of life that these patients have. That’s why it’s important to have families who are compliant and follow medications. Because. without their support, and the support of a big team, this would not be a long term proposition
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to get feedback about what happens later on in their lives. How active they are and how they can participate in everything in their childhood. without their support, and the support of a big team, this would not be a long term proposition In terms of how well they do long term, it depends on at what age they receive their transplantation and if they’ve have prior surgery. So let’s say, infants for example, and small children will do better the adolescents. And if you look at the median survival- so that point in which 50% of patients will, unfortunately, have died, long term - for an infant, it’s about 19 years. And for an older child, an adolescent, it’s about 13 years.
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