Who Qualifies for a Heart Transplant in Los Angeles?
March 5, 2026
Maria Tehranimd
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A heart transplant can be the last option for patients suffering from end-stage heart failure and cannot be treated by other means including medication or other procedures. Transplants can be a life-saving option for patients suffering from such serious and complex heart problems.
Dr. Maria Tehrani is a cardiac surgeon at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood. She currently is active with the heart and lung transplant program and has extensive experience with patients throughout the Greater Los Angeles Area.
What Is a Heart Transplant and When Is It Considered?
A heart transplant is a surgical procedure that replaces an unhealthy and failing heart with a healthy heart from a donor. Heart transplant is usually considered a last resort. This means that the procedure is only recommended after every other treatment option, such as medication, lifestyle changes, and other surgical procedures, have been attempted, or the treatment options have proven to be ineffective.Some possible reasons that lead to heart transplant evaluation referrals in Los Angeles include the following:
If a Los Angeles physician or cardiologist recommends this evaluation, it suggests that they have serious concerns over your medical condition, and that a heart transplant may be your most viable option to improve your prognosis in terms of both longevity and quality of life.
Heart Transplant Eligibility in Los Angeles
Unfortunately, not every heart failure patient will qualify to be put on the list to be evaluated for possible transplantation. This is a complicated, multi-step process that requires evaluation by numerous medical specialists across various disciplines to determine a potential candidate’s medical condition and ability to cope with the extensive postoperative care and follow-up that is required on a lifelong basis.
Medical Eligibility Criteria
Patients must meet certain prerequisites to be eligible for a heart transplant, including the following:
1. End-stage heart disease. Patients must have end-stage heart disease, meaning they have a short life expectancy and a poor quality of life, even with optimal medical treatment.
2. No other viable treatment options. The transplant team will determine and confirm that other medical or surgical therapies are not viable options for the patient’s condition.
3. Adequate overall health. The patient’s overall health must be adequate to endure the surgery. Patients with failing organs in addition to the heart, like the kidneys, liver, or lungs, will be evaluated more closely.
4. Acceptable age range. There is no strict upper age limit for heart transplant candidates. Most transplant centers in Los Angeles, including UCLA, consider patients on a case-by-case basis.
Possibility Focused on Post-Transplant Care After a heart transplant, patients will take immunosuppressants to inhibit the body from rejecting the new organ. The evaluation team will determine whether a patient has the knowledge, support, and dedication to adhere to such a regimen for the rest of their lives.
Conditions That May Disqualify a Patient
There are conditions that may make a patient initially ineligible for a heart transplant, such as:
– An active infection or untreated sepsis
– An active or recently diagnosed cancer
– Severe and irreversible liver or kidney disease
– Pulmonary hypertension, significant and irreversible
– Active substance abuse or smoking and no specified period of sobriety
– Uncontrolled severe obesity
– Absence of a dependable post-operative care support system
– Unwillingness to adhere to post-transplant prescriptions and medical instructions
– Inability to comply with post-operative instructions and medications
Some of the disqualifying factors listed above are reversible. Patients addressing weight, substance abuse and infection, may become eligible in a documented period. The evaluation team at transplant centers like UCLA collaborates with patients to identify various treatable conditions, and eligible pathways.
The Heart Transplant Evaluation Process at UCLA Medical Center in Westwood
The heart transplant candidacy evaluation from the UCLA Medical Center typically starts with an email from the patient’s primary care physician or referring physician to the Center’s Heart Transplant Coordinator. The heart transplant evaluation process is comprehensive and involves an interdisciplinary team of specialists to refine the multi-factorial, complex biological and physiological constructs of the patient’s state of health, overall health, and explain the reason to determine possible candidacy to undergo the heart transplant process.
Step 1. Referral and First Consultation
The process starts when a cardiologist or a cardiac surgeon refers the patient to the transplant program. For Dr. Tehrani’s patients, this process entails seeing the transplant team at the UCLA’s Ronald Reagan Medical Center, which is one of the premier centers in the country, and Dr. Tehrani’s patients receive her surgical care, along with the institutional advantages of one of the top academic teaching hospitals in the country.
Step 2: Thorough Medical Assessment
The assessment usually takes days and sometimes weeks to complete. It consists of multiple tests and consultations, including:
– Cardiac imaging and echocardiograms to evaluate heart function
– Blood work to assess the functions of the liver, kidneys, and immune systems
– Lung health assessment through pulmonary function tests
– Right heart catheterization to assess the pressures in the heart and lungs
– Assessment by psychologists and psychiatrists
– Social work assessment to evaluate support systems and lifestyle factors
– Nutritional assessment
– Consultations with specialists in infectious diseases, nephrology, and pulmonology as required
Step 3: Review by the Transplant Committee
After completing all the evaluations, the case is reviewed by the multidisciplinary transplant committee, who make the final determination on eligibility. This committee may consists of cardiac surgeons, cardiologists, transplant coordinators, social workers, pharmacists, and other specialists. They aim to assess whether the patient is the appropriate candidate for a heart transplant.
Step 4: UNOS Registration
After receiving approval, the patient is registered with the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). This organization maintains the waiting lists for organ transplants throughout the country. This means the waiting period officially begins.
Transplant Waiting Process
As difficult as it may be, waiting is an essential step in the heart transplant process. For patients and families in Los Angeles, learning about the organ allocation process can ease some of the uncertainty and help them be more prepared.
The Organ Allocation System
When it comes to heart transplants, waiting time is only one of the many factors used to determine to which patients a heart is given. The UNOS system uses a process called status classification to determine which patients are the most sick, and as a result, the most in need of a heart. The most important status levels are:
Status 1 — The most critically sick patients who are usually in the ICU and are dependent on mechanical support or other life-sustaining equipment.
Status 2 — Patients who are still very sick but are a little more stable and may require intravenous medications, or an implantable heart support device.
Status 3 and 4 — Patients 6who are sick but are more stable and can frequently be managed outside of the ICU or other critical care situations.
Status 5 and 6 — Patients who are less sick and more stable and can be managed with oral medications or a device called a left ventricular assist device (LVAD).When a compatible donor heart comes in, it’s offered to patients with a higher status number (Status 1 or 2) first as those patients have higher priority. Due to time constraints with the heart, donor hearts are offered first in the local area, then the region, and then the country.
How Long is the Wait?
It’s always going to be a bit of a gamble when it comes to wait times for things like the heart transplant list as it can range anywhere from a few weeks up to a year and sometimes even more. There is always a variation in these things comprised of blood and body size, medical priority, and most importantly, the availability of the will. The transplant team at UCLA meets with patients to determine fluctuations with the patient’s condition to re-rank the patient as it relates to those criteria.
Staying Ready While You Wait
Staying in close contact with the transplant team and being at the hospital as soon as a matching donor heart is available is of the utmost importance throughout the waiting period. This includes:
– Ability to remain in close proximity to the transplant center in Los Angeles,
– Fully packed bags,
– Access to 24/7 transport arrangements.
Also, it is imperative that:
– All follow-up appointments are attended,
– Symptom and health status changes are reported promptly,
– Alcohol, tobacco, and other substance use is avoided.
During the waiting period, transplant coordinators at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center are working with patients to provide encouragement and assist in optimizing patient health.
Living with a New Heart
Donors save lives, but receiving a donor heart means facing a new reality. Heart transplant patients must commit to a new way of life. It is a Medical Regiment. Patients must learn to accept the following:
The need to take a new class of medicines for the rest of their lives to keep their bodies from rejecting the new heart.
Routine checkups and biopsies
The need to change their lifestyle, which means eating a healthy diet, exercising on a regular basis, and avoiding activities that could put their heart and survival at risk.
Monitoring of complications is a requirement to survive.
The good news is that transplant patients live satisfying lives. In the past, heart transplant patients lived for an average of 10 years. Now, many patients live active, satisfying lives for 10. 15, 20, and even 30 years or more. Meet a Heart Transplant Expert in Los Angeles
For patients who may need a heart transplant, or who want a second opinion, we recommend speaking with Dr. Maria Tehrani. Dr. Tehrani is a cardiac surgeon with world-class training, a tremendous amount of clinical experience, and a tremendous amount of compassion for all of the patients she treats. Dr. Tehrani works with the heart and lung transplant programs at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood.
To make an appointment, please reach Dr. Tehrani’s office at
