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Learn about going home after TAH surgery, ongoing medical care you need, and possible complications of living with a TAH. If you are on the waiting list for a heart transplant, you will stay in close contact with the transplant center.

Your hospital stay after surgery could last a month or more. Recovery time after TAH surgery will depend a lot on your health before the surgery. As with any surgery, there are possible surgery-related complications after getting a TAH such as blood clots, bleeding, or infection.

The surgery to connect the TAH is complex and can last from five to nine hours. Learn about the team that performs the surgery and the steps involved in connecting a TAH to your body.

If you are not already in the hospital, you will likely spend at least a week in the hospital to prepare for the TAH surgery. You will continue to take any heart medicines your doctor gave you. During this time, you will learn about the TAH that you are getting and how to live with it. The members of your healthcare team will provide you with the information that you need before surgery.

You may benefit from a TAH if you have heart failure caused by ventricles that no longer pump blood well enough, and other treatments have not worked. If you are waiting for a heart transplant, a TAH can help prolong your life.

The TAH replaces the lower chambers of the heart, called ventricles. Tubes connect the TAH to a power source that is outside the body. The TAH then pumps blood through the heart’s major artery to the lungs and the rest of the body.