This surgery replaces the diseased heart with healthy donor heart, if examinations ensure that certain medical criteria are met, when the muscular part of the heart is damaged and the heart cannot pump adequate blood to meet needs of the body due to various diseases – all resulting in life threatening risks and vital problems (if life expectancy is 1 year or shorter).
Heart transplant is not an option for every patient, as it is performed under certain circumstances; while need of the patients are far from being met due to shortage of donor organs. Therefore, the average time spent in organ transplant list is as long as 1 year and one third of these patients die in this one-year interval.
Also, post-transplant 5-year, 10-year and 20-year life expectancy or survival is 70%, 50% and 25%, respectively, due to both surgical difficulties and complexity of postoperative problems. Therefore, Artificial Heart Systems are recent alternatives to the heart transplant. In practical terms, it is extremely advantageous, as it can be implanted whenever choosen and required.