What is a heart transplant?

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A heart transplant is a surgical procedure performed to remove the diseased heart from a patient and replace it with a healthy one from an organ donor. In order to remove the heart from the donor, two or more doctors must declare the donor brain-dead.

Before a person can be put on a waiting list for a heart transplant, a doctor makes the determination that this is the best treatment option available for the person’s heart failure.

About the heart

The heart is the hardest working muscle in the human body. Located almost in the center of the chest, the adult human heart is about the size of one fist.

At an average rate of 80 times a minute, the heart beats about 115,000 times in one day or 42 million times in a year. During an average lifetime, the human heart will beat more than 3 billion times, pumping an amount of blood that equals about 1 million barrels. Even when a person is at rest, the heart is continuously hard at work.