The procedure of replacing one's own heart with another, donated by a brain-dead person, for the treatment of heart disease is generally called a heart transplant.
A heart transplant can only be performed if the patient has severe heart disease, there is no other option but a transplant, the patient has been judged to have little time to live, the patient is physically and mentally able to endure the operation and subsequent treatment, and the patient and their family give their consent.
The world's first heart transplant was performed in South Africa in 1967, but unfortunately, the patient died 18 days after the operation. The following year, 102 heart transplants were performed worldwide, many of which failed due to organ rejection.
However, with the introduction of the new immunosuppressant drug cyclosporine in the 1980s, the success rate of heart transplants improved significantly. Today, more than 4,000 heart transplants are performed annually worldwide, and about 70 percent of them are successful.
The human body has an immune system that attempts to eliminate foreign substances whenever they enter the body. Organ rejection occurs when the transplant of another person's heart results in the body's attempt to eliminate it due to considering it a foreign substance.
In order to suppress the rejection reaction, immunosuppressive drugs must be taken after the surgery, which also lowers immunity to other viruses, so the patient must undergo repeated tests and lifestyle restrictions after surgery.
In addition, since the current Japanese law stipulates that donors must be at least 15 years old to donate organs, including the heart, after brain death, there is a problem of not being able to provide heart transplants for children with congenital diseases.
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