Cardiac transplantation is one of the most dramatic, esoteric, and sacred procedures available to cardiologists and cardiac surgeons as treatment for a limited number of patients with advanced, end-stage heart failure at imminent risk of death. Since the first "successful" allographic heart transplant in Cape Town, South Africa-in which the patient survived only 18 days-the procedure has become sine qua non for dramatic cardiovascular surgical adventures. The sacred aspect of cardiac transplantation relates to its intimate link to circulatory death, brain death, organ donation-and the miraculous gift that follows the decision to donate. It has indeed been called the "Gift of Life," where remarkable donor organ reanimation is seen in recovered hearts removed from a deceased donor. While this issue of the