Surgeons have been performing heart transplants for 30 years now and the prospects of survival continue to improve.
In a recent German study, nearly 50 per cent of patients survived for at least 10 years of follow up. Many of these were able to take moderate exercise as well (Heart, 1999; 82: 47-51).
That’s the good news. The bad news is that cancer is one of the biggest threats to patients who have any type of organ transplant. A quarter of the patients in this study had at least one malignancy during the 10 year follow up.