Who is a good candidate for heart transplantation? Is there an age limit?

Before you have a heart transplant, a team of health care professionals will determine if you are healthy enough to receive a new heart. It is necessary to establish that you are sick enough to require a transplant but also to ensure that you are physically capable of having a transplant.

Most patients who are being considered for transplantation are less than 70 years of age before being listed for a heart transplant. Although patients up to the age of 70 may be considered for transplantation, those over the age of 65 years need to be in excellent physical condition in order to be considered. Over 50% of patients on the waiting list are over the age of 50, and 10% are over the age of 65.

To be considered for a heart transplant, the following basic questions about your heart failure condition need to be addressed:

• Have all other therapies been tried or excluded (including medications, corrective cardiac surgery, heart catheterizations, devices, etc.)?

• Are you likely to die without the transplant?

• Are you in generally good health other than the heart disease?

• Are there any active infections or cancer at the time of transplant?

• Are you severely obese? (Your weight must be proportionate to your height.)

• Do you have any evidence of significant vascular disease (narrowing in the arteries that supply the brain or legs)?

• Do you have any psychological problems that may interfere with your ability to take medications or to attend frequent follow-up doctor visits?

• Can you adhere to the lifestyle changes, including complex drug treatments and frequent examinations/ procedures required after a transplant? (You will be a “patient” for the rest of your life.)

• Do you have some type of social or family network that can support you during your illness and your waiting period and during your recovery process after a potential transplant?

• Do you have some type of appropriate medical insurance?

• Are you free of alcohol, drug, and tobacco use?

If you answered “no” to any of the above questions, you may not be a suitable candidate for a heart transplant. Of course, each patient is considered individually, so that every patient is given full consideration.