End-stage heart failure is a disease in which the heart muscle is failing severely in its attempt to pump blood through the body. It means other treatments are no longer working, thus necessitating a transplant of a donor heart. Despite its name, a diagnosis of heart failure does not mean the heart is about to stop beating. The term failure means the heart muscle is failing to pump blood normally because it is damaged or very weak, or both.
Delivering donor organs is always a race against time. Organs are still placed on ice in plastic coolers, and the rush to move them to hospitals in need looks a lot like it does on movies and television. Today, eight out of 10 hearts never reach patients who need them due to numerous complications. One major complication is time. A heart on ice is only viable for approximately 6 hours. The greater the distance between hospitals, the great the risk.