Heart Transplant Surgery

#7

Cardiothoracic Surgery

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Patients with end-stage heart failure who do not respond to medical treatment may be candidates for heart transplants. In heart transplant surgery, a patient's diseased heart is removed and replaced with a healthy, donated human heart. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital has a distinguished history of advancing "standards of care" and the survival rates of our patients by using innovative surgical techniques, applying our basic scientific research in immunosuppression to the clinical setting, and inventing and perfecting life-sustaining cardiac assist devices that prolong life while waiting for organ availability. Surgeons at NewYork-Presbyterian have already performed more heart transplants – over 1700 – since 1977.

Every year, heart transplant surgery remains limited to the most severe cases. This is due, in part, to a shortage of donor hearts, which must pass through a stringent screening process. Moreover, the need for donated hearts goes beyond those on the transplant waiting list. There are many patients who — because of complicating health issues or age restrictions — are not eligible to be included on the transplant waiting list, yet are in need of a transplant.

In an attempt to address these problems, the heart transplant team at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital recently launched the Alternative Heart Transplant Program, which expands the usual criteria by which donor hearts are accepted. If, after careful assessment by our transplant team, the donor heart’s function is found to be acceptable, the program tries to match the heart to a patient who would otherwise not be eligible for transplant.