Inaccurate pulse oximeter readings could limit transplants, heart pumps for Black patients with heart failure

University of Michigan researchers find that racially biased pulse oximeter readings may further limit opportunities for Black patients with heart failure — who are already less likely to get treatment — to receive potentially lifesaving therapies, such as heart pumps and transplants.

Adult Congenital Heart Surgery Team Saves a Life, Sparks an Idea

She was five days postpartum. Her first child was a perfect baby girl. What was supposed to be among the happiest times in Marisa Dominguez’s life was, instead, the scariest.

UCLA research suggests that heart transplantation is safer for adults with single-ventricle CHD than previously thought

FINDINGS UCLA-led research finds that among adult congenital heart disease (CHD) transplant recipients, single-ventricle physiology correlated with higher short-term mortality. But 10-year conditional survival was similar for biventricular and most single-ventricle CHD patients, and notably better for biventricular CHD patients compared to non-CHD heart transplant recipients.

Heart transplant patients from socioeconomically distressed communities face higher mortality, organ failure risk

FINDINGS People from socioeconomically distressed communities who underwent heart transplantation between 2004 and 2018 faced a 10% greater relative risk of experiencing graft failure and dying within five years compared to people from non-distressed communities. In addition, following implementation of the 2018 UNOS Heart Allocation policy, transplant recipients between 2018 and 2022 faced an approximately 20% increase in relative risk of dying or experiencing graft failure within three years compared with the pre-policy period.

In historic procedure, donor liver protects heart transplant

Doctors in Seattle are reporting a history-making case in which a patient received two donor organs, a liver and a heart, to prevent the extreme likelihood that her body would reject a donor heart transplanted alone. In this innovative case, the organ recipient’s own healthy liver was transplanted, domino-like, into a second patient who had advanced liver disease.

Multicenter Trial Finds Using Circulatory Death Donors is Safe and Effective for Heart Transplantation

A study published in New England Journal of Medicine confirms that circulatory death donor hearts that are reanimated and perfused with blood outside of the body are as safe and effective to transplant as brain death donor hearts preserved using traditional cold storage. These findings suggest that using hearts donated after circulatory death (DCD) may have the potential to widen the donor pool helping more patients in need of life-saving heart transplants.

Latest Ochsner Health Pediatric Cardiac Surgical Data Shows Superior Outcomes for the Region

Hearing that a child needs heart surgery can be overwhelming. Fortunately, at Ochsner Health and Ochsner Hospital for Children, patients and their families are in expert hands. Recent pediatric outcomes for congenital heart patients show the hospital system’s highly specialized surgeons performed significantly better than others in the region — even when caring for the most complex cases. For the fifth year in a row, Ochsner’s surgical outcomes also continued to exceed national averages.

Smidt Heart Institute Experts to Lead Training Sessions at Society of Thoracic Surgeons Conference

Cardiothoracic surgeons and investigators from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai bring their leading-edge expertise in heart and lung surgery to the 59th Annual Meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS), Jan. 21-23, 2023, in San Diego.

UChicago Medicine performs 66 heart transplants in 2022, sets new state record for 2nd consecutive year

With the successful completion of back-to-back Christmas heart transplants, the University of Chicago Medicine set a new heart transplantation record for the state of Illinois, surpassing its own previous high-water mark for heart transplants. The Hyde Park-based academic health system has performed 66 heart transplants so far in 2022, surpassing last year’s record of 61.

UChicago Medicine’s heart transplant program makes history again, with best survival rates and wait times ever recorded

The University of Chicago Medicine’s heart transplant program is making history once again. The program’s transplant survival rates and transplant wait times are not only the best in the country, but they’re the best in the history of heart transplantation, according to an analysis of Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) data.

Reverse-order heart-liver transplant helps prevent rejection for highly sensitized patients

Patients with high levels of antibodies face major challenges getting a transplant. These highly sensitized patients have a higher risk of death while waiting for suitable organs. But there is new hope for highly sensitized patients in need of a combined heart and liver transplant, thanks to an innovative surgical approach at Mayo Clinic.

Penn Researchers Receive Grant to Use AI to Improve Heart Transplant Outcomes

Researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania were awarded a $3.2 million grant from the NIH to enhance research for improving heart transplant outcomes for patients. The four-year grant will fund a project exploring the use of AI-driven analysis to determine the likelihood of cardiac patients accepting or rejecting a new heart.

UC San Diego Health Revives Non-Beating Donor Heart for Successful Transplantation

UC San Diego Health is the first hospital on the West Coast to perform heart transplant surgery from a donor after circulatory death using a new portable organ care system. The investigational procedure could significantly decrease transplant waiting list times and improve patient outcomes.

13 Patients Receive New Hearts During COVID-19 Pandemic

While some hospitals paused or reduced organ transplants, MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute at MedStar Washington Hospital Center performed a record number of heart transplants during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Between March and May, 13 patients received new hearts–-more than double MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute’s typical volumes.