Nowadays, with advance in technology and medicine the last alternative of treatment to heart failure is the cardiac transplantation. This work was developed with the following objectives to delineate the demographic profile of patients undergoing heart transplantation and complications presented by them after this procedure in the hospitalization. This is a descriptive and quantitative study conducted with the 44 records of patients undergoing heart transplantation from June/2006 to July/2009, in a University Hospital in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The project attended to Resolution 196/96 recommendations. According to the results the majority of patients were male, married, with elementary education and the mid age of 45.2 years. The Chagasic cardiomyopathy was the main cause of heart failure. Complications that prevailed during the admission were alteration in blood glucose, kidney failure and infections. The mortality rate was 20.4% during hospitalization. In addition to biological complications were recorded only anxiety and depression. It is necessary to research on this subject in the psychosocial and spiritual spheres, contributing to the scientific development.
nursing; heart transplantation; organ transplantation; postoperative complications
