Anesthesia for cardiac transplantation

As the number of cardiac transplantation recipients grows, more centers will be performing cardiac transplantations and more anesthesiologists will be confronted with such patients. This chapter is intended to impart to the reader the basic knowledge necessary to manage both the donor and recipient intraoperatively. It is not intended to provide a complete description of the entire field including such areas as the surgical procedure or the immunologic theories involved. Rather, it is hoped that with the information provided, the anesthesiologist may optimally care for this patient group and perhaps become stimulated to investigate this area of medical science in more detailed sources.