Heart donation. Abstract image of a heart donor handing over his heart. A white light shines on his chest where the heart was removed. Here the heart is a model. Heart donation involves surgical transplantation of a patient's damaged or diseased heart with a healthy donated heart. Open heart surgery is necessary. Only patients with irreme- diable heart disease such as advanced coronary heart disease receive this treatment. The outlook of heart transplant patients is good with more than 80% of patients surviving the first year. Patients receive drugs to prevent infection and rejection of the new heart. An alternative is the use of an artificial (prosthetic) heart.