Anesthetic considerations in the patient with a heart transplant.

As programs to increase the awareness of organ donation grow, more patients undergo cardiac transplantation. Because immunosuppressive therapy and postoperative care are improved, the 1-year survival rate of these patients has increased to more than 80%. Not surprisingly, these patients may, either coincidentally or as a result of medications, require other procedures using anesthesia, frequently at hospitals other than the highly specialized institution that performed the transplant.