Adult Cardiac Transplantation
In March 2008, Dr. Brian Kogon performed Emory's 500th adult heart transplant. This milestone coincided with Emory's celebration of the 20th anniversary of its heart transplant program, the largest and most comprehensive in the state of Georgia, and recognition of more than 200 pediatric heart transplants performed at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston by Emory cardiothoracic surgeons.
Throughout the years, Emory cardiac transplant surgeons have achieved such milestones as:
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The performance of the first heart transplant in Georgia in 1985. |
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Dr. Kirk Kanter and Dr. Omar Lattouf's 1988 performance of Georgia's first domino heart transplant, a procedure in which a patient with failing lungs donated his healthy heart to another patient and then received a heart-lung transplant from a cadaveric donor. |
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The state's first implantation of a dual pump ventricular assist device (VAD) to serve as a bridge to heart transplantation, performed in 1999 by Dr. J. David Vega, which initiated Emory's ongoing national position at the forefront of the use of mechanical circulatory assist devices. |
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Dr. Vega's 2006 implantation of Georgia's first VAD as a form of destination therapy for individuals who are not eligible for or are unwilling to undergo a heart transplant. In 2007, Dr. Vega and his team implanted Georgia's first HeartMate II VAD for the same purpose. The HeartMate II is smaller and lighter than the XVE and features an automatic speed control mode designed to regulate pumping activity based on different levels of patient or cardiac activity. |
The Adult Cardiac Transplant Service at Emory is an integral component of the Emory Heart & Vascular Center, which encompasses all cardiology services and research at Emory; the Emory Center for Heart Failure Therapy and Transplantation, which provides evaluation and therapy for adult patients in various stages of congestive heart failure; and the Emory Transplant Center, the umbrella organization for Emory's heart, lung, liver, kidney, pancreas and islet transplantation programs. Information on pediatric heart transplantation can be found here.
At the Center for Heart Failure Therapy and Transplantation, current cardiac transplant research includes efforts to develop improved immunosuppressive medications for transplant recipients, clinical trials involving several new drugs that may benefit patients with congestive heart failure, and participation in a multi-center study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health investigating cardiac rehabilitation treatment strategies.
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