The four most common reasons for heart transplantation include:
- cardiomyopathy
- coronary artery disease
- congenital heart disease
- valvular disease
The number of heart transplants that are performed in North America continues to be over 3000 per year, as seen in the graph in the lower left.
The graph on the lower right shows that results for heart transplant recipient survival is very good with most patients living 5 to 10 years.
These good outcomes are due primarily to understanding the T cell or lymphocyte response of rejection and controlling for it with drugs, including Cyclosporine.
