For more information about Congestive Heart Failure, please visit our Cardiovascular Diseases Web . For additional Healthcare News visit our Breaking News Archive. Heart transplant surgeon Arthur J. Crumbley, III, M.D., would like to change that thinking. That could mean a range of options that include diet, exercise, drug therapies and surgery, including transplantation. Healthy patients are stronger candidates for surgical procedures, according to Dr. Crumbley.
Transplantation can be an excellent long-term solution.
This allows the team to work with the patient to develop the best plan possible. MUSC, as an academic medical center, is the only facility in the state that offers the full range of medical options for CHF patients, a program that includes the heart failure and transplant program. It might begin with simple fatigue. As the condition progresses, individuals can experience shortness of breath, wheezing, an inability to sleep except when propped up, swollen legs and ankles, nausea and weight gain. It s a condition afflicting more than five million Americans and is the leading cause of hospitalization for adults over the age of 65.