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Heart Transplant Program

The Mayo Clinic experience and patient stories

Our patients tell us that the quality of their interactions, our attention to detail and the efficiency of their visits mean health care like they've never experienced. See the stories of Mayo Clinic transplant patients.

  1. Comprehensive Care Offers Virginia Man a Path to Transplant

    When congestive heart failure led to the need for a heart transplant, Vincent Arnold turned to Mayo Clinic. The care he received took all his medical concerns into account, providing him a way to return to better health. It's been almost four years since Vincent Arnold began feeling winded and feeling like his heart was [...]

  2. A Sudden Detour for Heart Transplant, Then Back in Stride

    When Yasmin Mullings found out she needed a heart transplant, she wasn't sure she could go through with it. But with support and encouragement from her Mayo Clinic care team, Yasmin successfully navigated the transplant. Today, with a healthy heart, she's back to her active life. In 2015, Yasmin Mullings was relishing a fast-paced life. [...]

  3. Young Mom?s Long Wait Ends With Gift of a New Heart

    Sarah Bradley's heart failed when she was only 27 years old. Today, after more than two years living with the assistance of a device that kept her blood flowing and her health stable, she?s the grateful recipient of a new heart. For more than two years, Sarah Bradley lived with a broken heart. The muscle [...]

  4. Heart Transplant Puts an Active Athlete Back in Action

    Kraig Gresham was 47 years old when he received his heart transplant, but his journey to that life-changing surgery began years earlier. Kraig was born with aortic stenosis ? a birth defect that causes heart valves to narrow and obstruct blood flow. As a child he had heart problems as a result of his condition. [...]

  5. Teen Receives Thorough, Compassionate Care Before, During and After a Heart Transplant at Mayo Clinic

    When most people think of their happy place, they envision something like a warm, sunny beach or a cozy mountain cabin. But when Lisa Fairbairn thinks about a place that gives her comfort, Mayo Clinic?s Rochester campus comes to mind. She?s happiest there because it?s where her son Chase was given a second chance. Not [...]

  6. Coordination and Teamwork Make Simultaneous Surgeries Seamless for Heart Transplant Recipients

    Michael Tyler and William Tiger didn't know one another before the summer of 2016. But they now share a unique life event. Both 55-year-olds underwent heart transplant surgery at Mayo Clinic's Arizona campus on the same day, at the same time. Completing the simultaneous procedures was a milestone for the Transplant Center team in Arizona, [...]

  7. Life Beyond A Heart Transplant is Vibrant and Full for Elmo Aquino

    Fifteen years ago, Elmo Aquino, a resident of Orange Park, Florida, was an avid runner. He'd competed in Jacksonville's Gate River Run, an annual 15-kilometer running event, several times. But one morning in the summer of 2001, his active lifestyle came to an abrupt end when suddenly, while on a treadmill, he found he couldn't [...]

  8. Heart Transplant Opens Door to Leading a Full Life

    For 33-year-old Tara Brigham of Jacksonville, Florida, living with a heart condition since birth wasn't something that was going to get in the way of living an active normal life. In fact, she says the heart transplant she received six years ago as a result of her condition has made her life even more fulfilling. [...]

  9. Transplant Diary and a Father's Day Heart

    When Clint Frederick learned that he needed a heart transplant, he naturally wondered what the road ahead would look like. So he searched for a book that described the process from a patient’s perspective. His search came up short. But it planted seed. Perhaps he'd change things for other patients. "After I was approved for [...]
  10. Heidi Ash

    Mayo Clinic's 185th Heart Transplant Patient and her "Chocolat"

    I wish I knew more ways to say, ?Thank you?. I was given not just a second chance at life, but also a life with possibilities never imagined. Being born with congenital heart defects, my first open-heart surgery was performed when I was five-days-old. Six more heart surgeries followed before being tremendously fortunate to have [...]
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References
  1. Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. http://www.srtr.org/default.aspx. Accessed May 13, 2016.
  2. U.S. News & World Report. U.S. News Best Hospitals 2015-16. http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/rankings. Accessed Feb. 22, 2016.
  3. Cook AJ. Allscripts EPSi. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. May 2, 2014.
  4. Heart transplant program to resume in fall of 1986. Mayovox. 1986:37;1.
  5. Mancini D. Indications and contraindications for cardiac transplantation. http://www.uptodate.com/home. Accessed April 22, 2016.
  6. Barbara Woodward Lips Patient Education Center. Heart transplant. Rochester, Minn.: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research; 2013.
  7. Yip DS (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Fla. June 20, 2016.
  8. Barbara Woodward Lips Patient Education Center. Your child's heart transplant. Rochester, Minn.: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research; 2013.
  9. Johnson JN (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. June 20, 2016.
  10. Vucicevic D, et al. Sirolimus based immunosuppression results in lower incidence of post-transplantation lymphoproliferative disorders in heart transplant recipients. Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation. 2015;34:s86.
  11. Kalya A, et al. Role of total artificial heart in the management of heart transplant rejection and retransplantation: Case report and review. Clinical Transplantation. 2013;27:e348.
  12. Shankar N, et al. LVAD implant as a bridge to heart transplantation is associated with allosensitization as measured by single antigen bead assay. Transplantation. 2013;96:324.
  13. Barbara DW, et al. The perioperative management of patients undergoing combined heart-liver transplantation. Transplantation. 2015;99:139.
  14. Burkhart HM, et al. Regenerative therapy for hypoplastic left heart syndrome: First report of intraoperative intramyocardial injection of autologous umbilical-cord blood-derived cells. Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. 2015;149:e35. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002252231401602X. Accessed May 5, 2016.
  15. Pundi KN, et al. 40-year follow-up after the Fontan operation: Long-term outcomes of 1,052 patients. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2015;66:1700.
  16. Rosenbaum AN, et al. Current indications, strategies and outcomes with cardiac transplantation for cardiac amyloidosis and sarcoidosis. Current Opinion in Organ Transplantation. 2015;20:584.
  17. Grupper A, et al. Increased risk of antibody mediated rejection and subsequent allograft vasculopathy in women post cardiac transplantation. Journal of Women's Health. 2015;24:A-16.
  18. Rosenbaum AN, et al. Association between early cardiac rehabilitation and long-term survival in cardiac transplant recipients. Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 2016;91:149.
  19. Medical practice report: Heart transplant. Press Ganey. http://www.pressganey.com/. Accessed May 24, 2016.
  20. Khandhar SJ, et al. Optical coherence tomography for characterization of cardiac allograft vasculopathy after heart transplantation. Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation. 2013;32:596.
  21. Mayo Clinic Children's Center becomes first accredited pediatric heart failure institute in Minnesota and fourth in the nation (news release). http://www.evaluategroup.com/Universal/View.aspx?type=Story&id=458981. Accessed June 27, 2016.
  22. Doctors name America's top residency programs (news release). U.S. News & World Report. http://health.usnews.com/health-news/top-doctors/articles/2014/02/20/doctors-name-americas-top-residency-programs. Accessed June 27, 2016.
  23. Centers of excellence. Extracorporeal Life Support Organization. https://www.elso.org/Excellence/CentersofExcellence.aspx. Accessed June 27, 2016.
  24. Heilman RL (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Phoenix/Scottsdale, Ariz. June 24, 2016.

Mayo Clinic in Minnesota has been recognized as one of the top Cardiology & Heart Surgery hospitals in the nation for 2017-2018 by U.S. News & World Report.

Learn more about this top honor

Heart Transplant Program

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