Transplanted heart. Coloured chest X-ray of a patient with a transplanted heart (pink, lower right). The ribs (green) surround the lungs. Several sutures (stitches, blue) are seen at upper centre. The operation was needed as the patient was suffering from cardiomyopathy (heart failure), with massive enlargement of the left ventricle of the heart. Cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle, makes the heart less efficient at pumping blood to the lungs and the rest of the body. After a heart transplant the patient must take drugs to reduce the risk of the heart being rejected by the immune system. For an X-ray of this chest showing cardiomyopathy before surgery see image M172/384.