Do We Have Too Many Heart Transplant Centres?
Doctors at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital have questioned whether we have too many heart tranplant centres in the UK.
Apparently, the number of transplants is down, but the number of potential donors is up.
My cardiologist performs transplants and other radical heart surgery. We have chatted about technology in appointments, so could it be that the reason the number of transplants is down, is bcause surgeons are learning more tricks to keep us alive and in many cases we are doing our bit with less smoking and drinking and taking the right exercise and eating better.
Closing a heart transplant centre will be a difficult political decision, but as in many things these days, technology may be a better alternative, that takes good care nearer to the many.
I suffer from atrial fbrulation, caused in part by a dodgy heart valve. My mother-in-law had the same problem and had a valve replacement, which wasn’t a trivial operation in the 1970s.
My cardiologist’s prognosis to me was that if I keep getting the Warfarin right, I won’t have another stroke and pehaps in te years he might do something to fix the valve.
The way things are going with technology, I might suspect that when that valve is fixed, it might well be a trivial procedure.
So perhaps there’s a bit more life in this London mongrel yet? Here’s hoping!
The Anonymous Widower 
There is a lot of be said for having fewer units for any of these very specialised things. If there are fewer units, then the average transplants per unit will be higher, meaning the unit will retain its skills better.
Comment by liz | May 6, 2011 |