Postoperative nursing care of the cardiac transplant recipient

While considerable progress is being made in the medical management of heart failure, mortality for this disease process continues to be significant. Cardiac transplantation becomes the treatment of choice for those with end-stage diseases that are acceptable candidates. While care of the cardiac transplant patient is similar to those recovering from cardiopulmonary bypass after sternotomy there are several issues unique to the cardiac transplant recipient. These include cardiac denervation, allograft dysfunction, management of arrhythmias, rejection, immunosuppression, and infectious complications. This article provides an overview of the postoperative management of the cardiac transplant recipient while in the intensive care unit. Additionally, a brief description of the surgical techniques employed and the physiology related to cardiac denervation are presented.