In order to be a good candidate for a heart transplant, patients must have end-state heart disease with significant risk of mortality within one year, including: - Severely reduced left ventricular ejection fraction
- Severely reduced functional capacity
- Poor progress based on cardiopulmonary stress test
- A heart failure survival score indicating high risk
- Inoperable benign primary cardiac tumors
- Inoperable coronary artery disease with intractable angina
- Refractory ventricular arrhythmias
Patients having the following conditions are not good candidates for a heart transplant: - Fixed pulmonary hypertension
- Severe, chronic disabling diseases
- Severe, irreversible, chronic impairment of other vital organs, such as kidneys, intestines, liver, lungs or central nervous system
- Recent or uncontrolled malignancy
- Symptomatic, severe peripheral, visceral, carotid or cerebrovascular disease that cannot be corrected
- Malignant hypertension
- Inability to discontinue recreational drug, tobacco or alcohol use
- Active mental illness that interferes with medical treatment compliance
- Psychosocial instability, lack of social or family support, ongoing noncompliance with medical treatment
- 70 years old or older
- Pulmonary infarction within the past six weeks
- Very brittle diabetes or diabetes with end organ damage
- Major chronic disabling diseases, such as arthritis, stroke, neurological disease, severe inflammatory or collagen vascular disease
- Recent or uncontrolled peptic ulcer disease
- Active, but treatable infection (temporary)
- Morbid obesity
- HIV seroconversion
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