The short answer is "yes." Neither the transplant procedure itself nor the drugs needed postoperatively impair fertility for either men or women. We advise women to delay childbearing until after the first postoperative year, when their health status is generally quite stable. Pregnancy should be planned and managed by a team including experienced high risk obstetricians working with transplant cardiologists since drug dosages and rejection surveillance will need to be coordinated. Drug levels can change during pregnancy and will need to be monitored closely and kept in the therapeutic range. There is no track record of the drugs commonly used causing babies to be abnormal. The one exception to this rule is mycophenolate (Cellecpt), which is the newest drug and has less experience behind it as well as some hints about abnormalities in babies of mothers taking it. This drug will usually be replaced with an alternative one prior to commencing pregnancy. Babies of women with transplants are often a few weeks premature and somewhat small for their gestational age, but grow and develop normally. As above, fertility is not impaired in men having transplants. Also, there is no known increase in abnormalities in the children they father. The methods for contraception available to men and women who have transplants are the same as those used by anyone. The exception is the use of intrauterine devices (IUD's) in women, where the risk of infection with an indwelling device can be significant.