Heart Facts
The heart is a fist-sized organ located in the center of your chest behind your breastbone which pumps blood to all parts of the body. The heart is divided into four hollow sections called chambers. The top two chambers are called atria. The bottom two chambers are called ventricles. When the muscles in the heart contract or tighten, the blood in the bottom chambers is pushed out into the blood vessels. This pumping action propels your blood through your arteries out into your body. As the muscles of the heart relax, valves between the top and bottom chambers open so blood in the top chambers can flow into the bottom.
The heart is also divided into right and left halves. Blood leaving the right half of the heart goes to the lungs where it drops off carbon dioxide that is a waste product from the cells and picks up a fresh supply of oxygen. This blood immediately returns to the heart where it flows into the left side and is propelled out into the body to supply the cells with oxygen.
Why people need heart transplants
The heart is a complicated mechanism that must all work in sync in order to keep your blood flowing. Electric signals in the nerves trigger the muscles of the heart to contract and relax at the correct times. If these signals are interrupted, the rhythm of the heart can be disrupted which can affect how much blood is pushed out during each heart beat, or how hard the blood is pushed.
Like all the tissues in the body, the heart muscles need a constant supply of oxygen to stay healthy. If the blood vessels that carry blood to the muscles of the heart become clogged, part of the tissue of the heart can be damaged or even die. If this happens, the remaining muscle of the heart has to work even harder to push blood out to the body. Because the heart tissue is muscle, when the heart has to work harder, the muscle starts to bulk up and the heart becomes enlarged. This can make it even harder for the heart to contract to push blood out of the lower chambers.
Some people are born with damaged hearts that do not work correctly. Other people develop heart conditions as a result of an illness, a genetic tendency to have high cholesterol or other conditions, or lifestyle choices such as poor diet, lack of exercise, or smoking. It is possible for a person who has heart disease to continue to lead a relatively normal life for a time. Medications along with diet changes to reduce cholesterol and lose excess weight can sometimes help slow the progress of this condition.
Heart failure occurs when the heart is not able to supply enough blood to keep the body healthy. When the heart is nearing the end of its ability to pump blood, the patient is said to have end-stage heart failure. At this point, a heart transplant may be the only option.
The need for heart donations
Between January 1 and November 26, 2010, 1,569 heart transplants were performed in the United States. Another 3,200 people are on the waiting list hoping to receive a new heart before their own heart completely fails. There are many things that can go wrong with a complicated surgery like a heart transplant. So only people whose own hearts are failing but who are healthy enough to survive the surgery are qualified to be put on the waiting list. The majority of hearts available for transplant come from deceased donors. Rarely, a person who is receiving both a heart and lung transplant due to a lung condition is able to donate a healthy heart to someone else.
Heart donations save lives
Donating a heart through your advance directives or by checking the organ donor box on your driver’s license, can save the life someone whose heart is failing. To find out more about how you can be an organ donor, visit the Donate Life America website.
Sources:
National Institutes of Health Medline Plus: Heart Tranplantation
National Heart Lung and Blood Institute
Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network
American Heart Association
National Institutes of Health Medline Plus: Heart Chambers