Heart Transplant

Treatment of Children

Children and adolescents receive heart transplants at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota from a team of pediatric specialists. The team reviews the diagnostic data of newborns, infants and children with heart disease to determine if heart surgery or heart transplantation is more appropriate. The survival rates for infants, children and adolescents who have had heart transplants at Mayo Clinic are excellent.

The first step in the heart transplant process is determining whether your child is a candidate for heart transplantation. Once doctors determine that your child is a good candidate for transplantation, they place your child on the national organ waiting list. Depending on the severity of your child's illness and the degree of therapy necessary, your child may be listed as Status 1A (most ill), Status 1B or Status 2. Waiting times for donor hearts vary, but may be several months.

After the heart transplant, your child usually will remain hospitalized for one to three weeks. Staff from multiple specialties visit your child daily. In addition, a primary nurse will work closely with your child to provide continuity during the inpatient hospital stay, and will work with your child if he or she requires further hospital admissions. A transplant coordinator provides continuity for your child's outpatient care at the Transplant Center following heart transplantation.

After discharge, you and your child will then remain near Mayo Clinic so your child can be monitored for about three months. During this time, doctors will examine your child three times a week initially, and then twice a week and once a week until he or she is ready to return home. During this time, doctors perform tests to be certain that your child's body isn't rejecting the heart.

Once your child goes home, you'll return to Mayo Clinic for an exam every month for six to 12 months. After one year, the frequency of return visits depends on your child's health, but may be as infrequent as once every six months.

Treatment team

The team caring for children who have heart transplants includes cardiac surgeons and pediatric cardiologists, as well as support from pediatric specialists trained in infectious disease, nephrology and psychiatry.

The heart and lung transplant program occupies an entire unit — seven intensive care beds and 14 step-down beds — of the Mary Brigh Building at Saint Marys Hospital.

Doctors evaluate and care for you before and after transplantation in the William J. von Liebig Transplant Center, which is located in the Charlton building on the Mayo Clinic campus. Following transplantation, you may need to stay close to the hospital for a time. Mayo Clinic is affiliated with the local Ronald McDonald House and Gift of Life Transplant House, which provide accommodations for patients and families, and Rochester has other housing options.

Although lung transplant is an option for some children, it may not be the most appropriate option for your child. Mayo Clinic doctors will evaluate your child to determine the suitability of a procedure. Transplant for children involves not only surgery, but also continuity of care through a comprehensive transplant process.

Appointments

For appointments or more information, call the Central Appointment Office at 507-538-3270 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central time, Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday.