Heart transplantation surgery is the complete replacement of a patient's diseased heart with a donor heart when all other treatments have failed. Transplantation is considered an option when the patient's is otherwise in good overall health.

Heart Transplant may be the only option for patients who have failed all other attempts at medical and/or surgical therapy for heart disease, specifically late-stage heart failure patients. While heart transplantation surgery is a highly invasive procedure, Sutter Heart & Vascular Institute has been performing heart transplantation surgery for over 10 years, and we are proud to have some of the best outcomes in the state.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the federal government's National Institutes of Health has prepared an excellent booklet on heart transplants that covers the most commonly asked questions. You can view the Facts About Heart and Heart-Lung Transplants booklet online in Web format, as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file, or order a printed copy. The site also offers booklets entitled Facts About Cardiomyopathy and Facts About Coronary Heart Disease, as well as several other heart-related titles.

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