Heart transplant
A proven track record of heart transplant success
Nearly 4,000 people in the U.S. receive a new heart each year. Beginning the transplant process can be a hopeful time, but it can also be stressful. At Penn Medicine, you can rest assured you’re in good hands.
With 30+ years of experience, we've performed over 1,600 heart transplants in total, more than any other regional transplant center. Our team supports an average of one heart transplant each week, making us one of the nation’s most experienced transplant providers.
Our cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, cardiac anesthesiologists, intensive care specialists, and transplant infectious disease specialists work together—and with you—to ensure you get all the care you need before, during, and after a heart transplant.
We also understand that having your loved ones by your side is a critical part of care. Our unique family-centered model prioritizes keeping your caregivers with you at your bedside and in decision-making care team meetings.
Your path to heart transplant
Our dedicated heart transplant team has successfully guided hundreds of people through the heart transplant process. We give you all the medical care you need, manage the details of your appointments and medical tests, and provide personalized support.
We perform a thorough evaluation, including extensive medical tests, to determine whether you’re eligible for a heart transplant. We’ve helped many people who were ineligible at other centers to become heart transplant candidates.
Our team handles the details of placing you on the heart transplant waiting list. While you wait, we manage all aspects of your care to keep you prepared for your new heart. This may include temporary support with a ventricular assist device (VAD) while you wait for a donor.
After a heart transplant, we’re here to monitor every aspect of your health during recovery. We’re by your side while you recover and for all your follow-up care.
Saving lives, one heart at a time
Penn Medicine’s heart transplant specialty is one of the nation’s most established programs dedicated to life-saving heart transplantations. We performed our first transplant in 1987 and since then have gone on to provide this lifesaving care to more than 1,500 people. We have the skill and experience to help even high-risk patients when other centers say surgery isn’t an option.
As a transplant recipient, you and your family become part of the Penn Medicine family. We’re here with care and support for the rest of your life. Your family is at the center of our care model, as we encourage your loved ones to stay by your side and participate in your care.
Specialized heart transplant support at Penn Medicine
While your medical team cares for your physical well-being, our support services team is here to help you and your family through the other parts of your transplant journey.
Our social workers are always available throughout your heart transplant journey. They check in with you frequently and work closely with other transplant team members to make sure you have what you need.
A heart transplant can bring with it financial stresses that affect you physically and emotionally. You’ll meet with a financial counselor during your heart transplant evaluation to review your insurance coverage and transplant costs. They provide an estimate of your out-of-pocket costs and other expenses.
Your financial counselor is available throughout the transplant process. Our team can connect you with resources to help relieve the financial burden of having a heart transplant.
Our nutritionists are registered dietitians with transplant expertise. They meet with you throughout the transplant process to make sure you’re getting the nutrition you need.
If you live out of town, you and your family may need a place to stay while you’re receiving care with us. The Clyde F. Barker Penn Transplant House is a warm and comfortable home away from home for Penn Medicine transplant patients and their families. There are also a variety of other housing accommodation options for transplant patients that can meet your individual needs.
Our transplant psychiatrists have deep experience assessing people undergoing a life-changing transplant. Psychiatrists provide a detailed evaluation and recommendations for additional care.
No one knows what you’re going through as much as other heart transplant recipients and their caregivers. Our social workers coordinate virtual support group meetings that help you connect with other members of the transplant community and foster these unique relationships.
Our educational events are virtual gatherings covering various topics of interest to transplant recipients and their caregivers. All events are recorded and posted, so you can view them at any time. Speak with your provider to learn more.
Our interfaith chaplains are here with comfort, support, and a shoulder to lean on. They can also coordinate with your home clergy or connect you with a clergy member of your own faith.
Advanced dual-organ transplants
Dual organ transplants require advanced care. Most hospitals aren’t able to do these complex procedures, but it’s one of our specialties. Our team is one of just a few nationwide with the expertise to perform heart-lung and lung-liver transplants.
Dedicated to innovation: groundbreaking heart transplant research
Our heart transplant team members are also physician-researchers dedicated to developing better, safer heart transplant procedures and technologies. Clinical trials can provide more treatment options for people with advanced heart failure, often years before those options are widely available.
Current areas of heart transplant research include:
Easier detection and prevention of heart transplant rejection
A body’s rejection of a transplanted heart can be devastating. Identifying rejection early can help reverse the process. We currently identify rejection with a heart biopsy, which carries a risk of complications, such as blood clots, arrhythmia, or infection at the biopsy site.
Penn Medicine is researching the use of blood tests to detect heart transplant rejection without the risks of biopsy. Members of our team are also investigating new types of medications given just after transplant to reduce the risk of rejection.
Expanding the pool of available hearts
We led one of the first academic studies that paved the way for the use of heart transplants from donors who were positive for hepatitis C. Previously, we could not accept these organs. Researchers from Penn Medicine became the first to publish a clinical protocol for transplanting a heart from a hepatitis C-positive donor. As a result, there are up to 2,000 more hearts available across the U.S.
Developing systems for transporting donor hearts longer distances
The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) coordinates organ matching in the U.S. When a donor heart becomes available, we work to transplant the heart as quickly as possible. Penn Medicine is working with studies of organ perfusion systems that circulate fluid and nutrients to donor hearts in transit to keep them healthy longer and expand the pool of donor hearts.
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