New Heart

Former Vice President Dick Cheney's heart transplant Saturday at Inova Fairfox Hospital in Virgina highlights the fact that, while such operations may offer patients a new lease on life, they come with their own set of complications. "It's a long haul," said Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist who serves as director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute. "The first few days is basically like healing from an open-heart operation … so mainly he would have a lot of discomfort in his chest wall.

Dick Cheney has been adjusting well to his new heart, talking and standing less than two days after receiving it Saturday. The former vice president "is doing very well" and his doctors are "very pleased" with his recovery from the transplant surgery, according to his aide, Kara Ahern. The 71-year-old Cheney received his new heart at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., after a lifetime of heart disease, including five heart attacks. He joined the waiting list for a transplant in 2010.

Dick Cheney has been adjusting well to his new heart, talking and standing less than two days after receiving it Saturday. The former vice president "is doing very well" and his doctors are "very pleased" with his recovery from the transplant surgery, according to his aide, Kara Ahern. The 71-year-old Cheney received his new heart at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., after a lifetime of heart disease, including five heart attacks. He joined the waiting list for a transplant in 2010.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney's heart transplant Saturday at Inova Fairfox Hospital in Virgina highlights the fact that, while such operations may offer patients a new lease on life, they come with their own set of complications. "It's a long haul," said Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist who serves as director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute. "The first few days is basically like healing from an open-heart operation … so mainly he would have a lot of discomfort in his chest wall.

A 15-month-old California boy, identified only as "Baby James," underwent a successful human heart transplant Saturday afternoon at Loma Linda University Medical Center, hospital officials announced. Baby James had suffered from cardiomyopathy, a general deterioration of the heart muscle, and during the past few months had endured both pneumonia and congestive heart failure.

Baby Eve, the latest infant to receive a heart transplant at Loma Linda University Medical Center, has been "making good progress," hospital officials announced Tuesday in the first condition report on the child. The 22-day-old girl was born with a congenitally malformed heart and last week received the heart of another infant who had been declared brain dead, hospital officials said. "She is round and pink and really quite a lovely, healthy-looking baby," Dr.

The infant who received a human heart in rare transplant surgery last week has "progressed well," officials at Loma Linda University Medical Center announced Tuesday. Relaxing but not lifting a tight lid of secrecy surrounding last Wednesday's surgery, the medical center said the child was taken off a respirator Friday night and began bottle feedings on Sunday. The medical center's brief press release, issued "at the parents' request," identified the infant as "Baby Moses."

Loma Linda University Medical Center's doctors changed their minds late Thursday and decided to put "Baby Jesse" on the waiting list for a heart transplant because his paternal grandparents agreed to assume custody of the 12-day-old boy. "The process of searching for a donor heart has begun," the hospital said in a brief statement.

Baby Jesse, his new heart beating steadily and all his vital signs good, slept through most of Wednesday while doctors here issued a cautiously optimistic prognosis for the 17-day-old boy, recipient of their fifth infant-to-infant heart transplant in little more than six months.

MIAMI -- Dressed in a faded orange shirt, blue sweat pants and sneakers, 28-year-old Erik Compton looks like just another pro golfer hoping to get back on the PGA Tour. He launches ball after ball on the driving range, sending them more than 250 yards, though not his usual 300 yards, through the humid air toward Miami International Airport across the street. Finally his workout ends and Compton changes his shirt, revealing the scar. It runs down his chest and hints at what sets the golfer apart: Barely five months ago, he was on an operating table for the second time in his life without a heart.

A man with two hearts--one his own, one a donor heart--was resuscitated via a defibrillator when both organs developed irregular heart rhythms, a case study reports. The study, published online recently in the journal Annals of Emergency Medicine , chronicles the life-saving measures used in 2010 to save the 71-year-old, who received the donor heart in 2003. He had also received a pacemaker in 2001. The heart was implanted in a heterotopic procedure, which means the patient keeps his heart and receives a donor heart.

When 46-year-old Tammy Lumpkins showed up at Keck Hospital of USC in August, she needed a new heart. Her doctors got her onto the transplant list, but as she waited, her health deteriorated. Her liver and kidneys started to fail and she couldn't get out of bed. "To say she was on the brink of death was an understatement," said Dr. Michael Bowdish, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Keck Hospital. PHOTOS: A new heart So in late September, Bowdish implanted an artificial heart in Lumpkins to replace both of the organ's chambers and all four valves.

Deteriorating or clogged heart valves in seriously ill elderly people can be successfully replaced through minimally invasive surgery, researchers said Sunday. The new procedure represents a development whose significance many cardiologists are comparing to balloon angioplasty to clear blocked arteries. At least 100,000 Americans a year develop aortic valve stenosis, which dramatically impairs the ability of the heart to pump blood. A previous study had shown that the valves can be replaced with prosthetic valves through a catheter inserted through a vein in the groin in patients who are too sick for conventional surgery.

Awareness of women's heart health has improved over the last 30 years, but cardiovascular disease still causes a woman to die every minute, reports an article in the journal Circulation   detailing the American Heart Assn.'s new cardiovascular disease prevention guidelines for women.   Many of the guidelines, which were released on Tuesday, are familiar.  To minimize risk, women should avoid smoking; should exercise regularly; should eat a diet packed with fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fish; should keep to a healthy body weight and should treat their heart disease once they know they have it. Doctors are also urged to screen patients for depression, because people who are receiving treatment for depression are more likely to follow medical advice than those who aren't.

In an interview Tuesday, former Vice President Dick Cheney said he would consider seeking a heart transplant and maintained that President Obama would be voted out of office next year. Cheney, 69, has suffered from heart trouble for most of his life. His most recent of his five heart attacks was in February 2010. Last summer, he had a heart pump implanted in his chest to keep blood flowing to his vital organs. In an interview with NBC's "Today" show, Cheney, who is noticeably thinner than during his vice presidency, said the pump was a temporary measure and that a decision on seeking a new heart hasn't been made.

When it became apparent that their 5-year-old daughter would not survive the injuries she received from being mauled by a pit bull, Katya Todesco's parents decided to donate her organs. Katya was playing in the backyard of a friend's house in Simi Valley in September 2008 when she bumped into or fell over the dog. She was bitten on her face and neck. Katya died three days later. On Monday, Katya was posthumously honored by Children's Hospital Los Angeles for the organ transplants her death made possible, which "saved the lives of four others," said Lyndsay LaGree, a hospital representative.

When doctors at Loma Linda University Medical Center implanted a new heart in the chest of newborn Baby Paul Holc last month, the operation was considered historic. Only hours after his birth by Caesarean section, Baby Paul became the youngest-ever heart transplant recipient--and is now listed in good condition. In the medical community, however, his age has attracted less attention than the source of the new heart.

Tony Huesman, 51, a heart transplant recipient who lived a record 31 years with a single donated organ, died of cancer Aug. 9 in Dayton, Ohio, his heart still going strong, his widow said. "He had diabetes and cancer," Carol Huesman said. "His heart -- believe it or not -- held out. His heart never gave up until the end, when it had to give up." Huesman got a heart transplant at Stanford University on Aug. 30, 1978, just 11 years after the world's first heart transplant was performed in South Africa.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney, battling a lifetime of cardiac disease, has not decided whether to seek a heart transplant but could use a device surgically inserted into his chest last week as permanent therapy for his condition, according to a source close to the Cheney family and to heart surgeons familiar with the treatment. "He has not made any decision yet about a transplant," the source said Thursday. "He is totally focused right now on recuperation and rehab" with his current device.

"Three Rivers" CBS, Sunday, Oct. 18, 9 p.m. Episode: "Good Intentions" The premise Teenage alcohol and drug abuser Scott Becker (Shiloh Fernandez) has been admitted to Three Rivers Regional Medical Center, a top transplant center in Pittsburgh. Scott has severe heart failure, caused by an enlargement of the heart (known as cardiomegaly). Specifically, he has dilated heart chambers and a "regional wall abnormality" that prevents the heart from pumping properly. A cardiac angiogram has revealed that he has normal coronary arteries.