Heart Transplant and Artificial Heart Program
As a leader in both heart transplantation and the surgical treatment of advanced heart failure, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center continues to advance the field in both clinical management and development of technology to treat patients who are eligible for transplantation and/or heart-assist devices. Resources are focused on clinical care as well as research in both transplantation and surgical treatment of heart failure, allowing clinicians to optimize therapy and outcomes for patients.
For a patient whose heart has been weakened by disease or injury, a ventricular-assist device, or VAD, may be surgically implanted to help the heart circulate blood more effectively. A VAD can be used as a “bridge to transplantation” to support circulation in a patient eligible for a heart transplant when a donor heart is not immediately available, or it may provide temporary support in an effort to allow the patient’s heart to become stronger following prolonged illness. A VAD assists with blood circulation, but does not replace the patient’s heart.
The UPMC Artificial Heart Program is nationally recognized for advances in the field of mechanical circulatory support, including ventricular-assist devices. Specifically, UPMC has helped foster developments in the following areas:
- assessment standards used to determine if a patient is a candidate for an assist device
- complex post-implant patient management
- identification of cardiac recovery
- assessment of new technology
- the education and management of patients on mechanical circulatory support in outpatient settings
Heart transplantation is performed to treat irreversible, life-threatening heart disease that cannot be managed using any other type of medical or surgical method. The UPMC Heart Transplantation Program is one of the few programs nationwide to have performed more than 1,000 heart transplants and 870 lung/heart-lung transplants.
In 2005, the program led the nation in heart/heart-lung transplants, performing more than 40 such transplantations, with the greatest post-transplantation longevity among UPMC recipients now approaching 20 years.