What Are the Risks Associated with Transplants?
The most common causes of death following a transplant are infection and rejection. Patients on drugs to prevent transplant rejection are at risk for developing kidney damage, high blood pressure, osteoporosis (a severe thinning of the bones, which can cause fractures), and lymphoma (a type of cancer that affects cells of the immune system). Coronary artery disease develops in almost half the patients who receive transplants. And many of them have no symptoms, such as angina, because they have no sensations in their new hearts.
