Abstract
At the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center, Japan, pharmacists have been involved in drug treatment management and patient care as members of multidisciplinary heart transplant teams that include surgeons, physicians, recipient transplant coordinators, and nurses during the waiting period for heart transplantation (HTx), HTx surgery, and post-HTx. During the waiting period, pharmacists play an important role in adjusting the use of antibiotics, anticoagulants, and antiarrhythmics by patients receiving a ventricular assist device (VAD). During HTx surgery and post-HTx, pharmacists advise physicians regarding the individualized medication protocol for immunosuppression and infection prevention to be used for each patient based on the patient’s pre-HTx characteristics as well as gene polymorphisms. They thus contribute to reducing the burden on the physician through the sharing of tasks. Throughout all three phases of HTx, pharmacists repeatedly provide medication and adherence education to the patients and caregivers. It is hoped that an academic society-led training protocol as well as transplant pharmacists will be established in Japan and other developed countries, and that these specialized transplant pharmacists would then provide individualized pharmacotherapy for the use of various antibiotics, anticoagulants, and immunosuppressive agents that have a narrow range of treatment in VAD and HTx patients.
Highlights
In1997, the Act on Organ Transplantation was enacted in Japan, and the first heart transplantation (HTx) under the law was performed in 1999 [1]
DAP is used to treat various bacterial infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria, including methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) [16, 17]
Transplant pharmacists at each hospital have built up their own expertise and are participating in medical teams at each facility, playing a role in organ transplantation
Summary
In1997, the Act on Organ Transplantation was enacted in Japan, and the first heart transplantation (HTx) under the law was performed in 1999 [1]. The Declaration of Istanbul was set out at the Transplantation Society in 2008, in which patients awaiting HTx need to wait for donor opportunities in their own countries, sidestepping efforts by many individuals related to organ transplantation to amend and revise the Act on Organ Transplantation in 2010. Heart Transplantation the number of brain-dead organ donors has increased gradually, the number of patients awaiting HTx has been increasing year by year [2]. The role and responsibilities of pharmacists are described from the perspective of drug treatment management and patient education in preoperative and postoperative HTx patients, and individualized pharmacotherapy is discussed
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
