Critical care nursing clinics of North America
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Now that heart transplantation is a common therapeutic modality, it has lost much of its earlier mystique. Numerous issues related to donor allocation, immunosuppression, quality-of-life of the recipient, patient selection, cost-effectiveness, and a myriad of ethical considerations remain. ⋯ Current practices and legislation are a part of heart transplantation's evolutionary process. The process can change and advance as rapidly as it did on December 3, 1967, with the announcement of the first successful human-to-human heart transplantation.