A recent article in The New York Times gives an in-depth account of a pediatric heart transplant performed in September by NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia cardiothoracic surgeons Maureen McKiernan, M.D., and Andrew Goldstone, M.D., on a 6-month-old patient, Luna, whose dilated cardiomyopathy led to end-stage heart failure.
The story details the expertise, planning, and coordination that is required across a large care team to complete a successful heart transplant within a critical timeline, from procuring and transporting the donor heart to performing the exchange transfusion to suturing the final connections.
Dr. Maureen McKiernan and Dr. Andrew Goldstone performed the six-hour pediatric heart transplant.
Luna’s transplant marked Dr. McKiernan’s first as a lead surgeon and her first on a pediatric patient. She joined NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia in August following residency and fellowship, becoming part of one of the largest pediatric heart transplant programs in the world. Assisted by Dr. Goldstone, chief of the Section of Pediatric and Congenital Cardiac Surgery, she was happy to lean on his expertise when the donor heart ended up being smaller than anticipated. To deal with potential risks associated with the small size, he suggested they opt for implantation using the biatrial technique, which involves suturing the atria — rather than the venae cavae — of the donor heart to the recipient’s cuffs.
The donor heart was transplanted in less than an hour, and the full surgery was completed in six hours. And in December, shortly before the holidays, following five months of care at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of Children’s Hospital of New York and two months in rehabilitation, Luna finally went home.
Learn more about the details behind the pediatric heart transplant on The New York Times.
