A surgery that involves replacing a diseased heart with a healthy donor heart is known as a heart transplant surgery. It is the final call of treatment when all other treatments fail. Usually, a heart transplant is recommended in the following conditions:
- Coronary artery disease
- Congenital heart defects
- Cardiomyopathy (weakening of the heart muscle)
- Heart valve disease
- Abnormal heart rate and rhythm
- Amyloidosis
- Failure of any previous heart transplant
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Life after a heart transplant
Once you come home after the heart transplant surgery, you need to restrict physical activities such as driving. The patients also have to visit the surgeon frequently after the surgery for follow-ups. The doctor may send you for investigations such as blood tests, chest x-ray or even biopsy.
In case you notice any of the following signs and symptoms, you must consult your healthcare provider,
- Increase in the pain of incision site
- Difficulty in breathing
- Redness, swelling, or drainage from the incision site.
- Fever and chills.
- Increased fatigue
- Low blood pressure
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Heart transplant Costs in Chennai
Fortunately, the heart transplant cost in India is much lesser compared to that in other countries without any compromise in infrastructure or technological advancement. Patients can easily manage a medical trip to the country at an affordable cost. The best cardiac surgeons in India have years of experience in their respective fields and treat all complex heart procedures. The approximate cost of a heart transplant in cities like Hyderabad ranges from 55,000 USD to 65,000 USD (3935167 INR to 4650652 INR). There are many best heart surgery hospitals in India that introduce minimal access surgery, and robotic surgery to treat heart disease.
The patients usually need to stay in the hospital for 14 days and outside the hospital for 20 days. In addition to this, there may be a waiting period of 3 weeks to 3 months to get the matched donor for a heart transplant.
A pre-transplant work is also done including blood tests, EKG, Chest x-ray, cardiopulmonary stress, echocardiogram, MUGA SCAN, heart catheterization, and pulmonary functioning testing. This pre-transplant workup may cost you around 5000 USD.
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Top cardiac surgeons in Chennai
Dr Girinath MR
- Works as a cardiothoracic surgeon at Apollo Hospital, Chennai and holds an experience of 45 years.
- He also worked in Auckland for 3 years.
- He has performed more than 25,000 open heart surgeries in the last 16 years.
- He has lead the cardiac surgery team in 40,000 heart operations including 14,000 were beating heart operations.
Dr Y Vijayachandra Reddy
- Dr Reddy is an interventional cardiologist with an experience of 23 years.
- He also received the best doctor award for cardiology in 2011.
- Dr Reddy has performed more than 7000 PCIs, 30000 invasive procedures, and 700 cardiac devices.
Dr Sandeep Attawar
- Experience of more than 22 years with more than 9000 surgeries.
- He also contributed to establishing 3 major heart centres in India and outside.
- His expertise lies in CABG, pediatric heart surgery, the cardiac surgeon for valve repair and replacement surgery.
Dr Sengotuvellu G
- Holds an experience of 25 years at Apollo Hospital Greams Road, Chennai
- He has won several awards like Best doctor award, Best case presentation, and Award for Clinical excellence.
- He did the first successful transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) for aortic valve stenosis in Tamil Nadu.
- He was the first in South India to use Clearway catheter in primary angioplasty.
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Top cardiac surgery hospitals in Chennai
Apollo Hospital Greams Road
- Counted amongst the top 10 cardiology hospitals in India, it was the first to introduce MitraClip which is the latest technology in cardiology.
- It is also the first hospital to do India’s first successful Trans-catheter mitral valve replacement.
- 99.6% of the cardiac surgeries done in the hospital are beating heart surgeries in which a heart-lung machine is used.
Global Hospital, Chennai
- Established in 1999, the hospital is accredited with NABH, NABL, and HALAL.
- It offers treatment for many heart conditions such as myocardial infarction, coronary artery disease, heart failure, irregular heartbeat etc.
- The hospital is best known for doing the best minimally invasive surgery in India, which allows the patients to recover faster.
Fortis Malar Hospital, Chennai
- The cardiology unit has performed various complex surgeries such as BT Glenn Shunt, PDA interruption, coarctation repair, closure of ASD & VSD, intra-cardiac repairs and many more.
- The hospital has more than 160 consultants and 650 employees to manage over 11,000in-patients.
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Why is Chennai a preferred place for a heart transplant in India?
A good education system has always been an indispensable part of Chennai. In addition to good schools, it is home to many eminent colleges, such as IIT Madras, which is one of the top 10 engineering colleges of India. There are several research institutes in Chennai such as The National Research Institute of Tuberculosis, The National Research Institute of Epidemiology, The Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute and many more. This has resulted in building a strong foundation when it comes to having an advanced infrastructure and highly educated & skilled surgeons.
The best cancer hospitals in Chennai have a special desk for international patients. The staff ensures a smooth experience of international patients in Chennai. One can easily approach the international desk for any of the following cases:
- Assistance in applying for medical visa
- Extension of the medical visa
- Special dietary preferences
- Language interpretation system for the patients such as French, Arabic etc.
- Followup services after going back home.
- Hospital stay as per the preferences