Heart Transplantation

Abstract

One of the most exciting situations that a cardiologist can face-up is heart transplantation. On the one hand, the patient with heart failure and his/her family that are desperately waiting for a new heart coming from a human donor need a precise and accurate information on the entire procedure, and it is precisely the cardiologist the one who is supposed to provide it. On the other hand, the family of the donor and many health care professionals involved in the transplant protocol must be informed thoroughly. This unit aims to help non–native English speaking cardiologists who have to talk to colleagues, patients, and patients’ families in an extremely difficult scenario. It is not easy to talk about death, donors, last will, etc., and it is not easy either to give the correct information to an anxious and sometimes dyspneic patient who is about to be operated on on an emergent basis. After the operation, the follow-up of a heart transplant recipient is plenty of tests, medication, immunosupression secondary effects, biopsies, coronary graft vasculopathy, etc. It is an extensive language field in which non–native English speakers must be as fluent as possible in order to be able to convey accurate information.