A heart transplant significantly alters your life. Receiving a transplant means a lifetime of medication, frequent follow-up visits and ongoing monitoring by doctors and nurses at UVA.
After Leaving the Hospital
After leaving the hospital, you will need to:
- Check your vital signs daily (temperature, weight, blood pressure and pulse)
- Take prescribed medications
- Take regularly scheduled routine lab tests (at a lab close to home)
Follow-Up Care
After the transplant, you will need to stay monitored by and in close communication with your transplant team.
The First Year
Your first year post-transplant, you will need regular monthly visits to check your progress and catch any signs of organ rejection as early as possible. At each visit, we will either:
- Biopsy your heart or
- Perform gene testing (a blood test)
The First to Second Year
You will need to visit the clinic every 3 months for biopsies or gene testing.
The Second Year and Beyond
You'll need:
- To visit the clinic every 3 months for lab tests
- A heart biopsy or gene testing every 6-12 months