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Transplant Services

Heart Transplant

One of the Country’s Largest & Most Experienced Heart Transplant Programs

Call for an Appointment: 212-305-7600 Request a Second Opinion

Why Choose Us

A National Leader & Pioneer in Heart Transplantation

US News Best Hospitals - Cardiology and Heart Surgery

U.S. News & World Report ranks NewYork-Presbyterian #4 in the nation for cardiology and heart surgery

Established over forty years ago, our Heart Transplantation Program is the largest and most experienced heart transplant program in the United States. We have transplanted almost 3,000 patients, far exceeding other hospitals across the country. Our doctors continuously pursue innovative treatment protocols, including for high-risk and multi-organ (heart-lung, heart-liver, and heart-kidney) transplant populations. Despite the complexity of our cases, we consistently produce excellent patient outcomes. As per the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR), our patient survival rate at one year is 97.2%, significantly above the national average of 91.7%.

Our medical and surgical teams that comprise the Heart Transplant Program have been contributing to the advancement of heart failure care and transplant for decades. Some of these achievements include:

  • The first successful pediatric heart transplant in 1984.
  • The primary investigators for the first clinical trial to demonstrate the benefit of ventricular assist device technology for patients with end-stage heart failure (the REMATCH Trial).
  • One of the first heart transplant programs to offer an alternative list for older patients or those with multiple relative contraindications, to receive an organ that might not otherwise be used, and to demonstrate excellent outcomes with this strategy.
  • Leaders in the field of immunosuppression and methods to prevent or treat organ rejection.
  • Leaders in the field for training one of the largest cohort of transplant physicians and surgeons in the United States.
  • Leaders in the field of LVAD technology as bridge to transplant, including the largest center for enrollment of the Heartmate III trial.
  • Major contributors to research on organ scarcity, socioeconomic disparity in transplant, and key policy changes to improve the equitable distribution of heart transplantation across the county.
  • Leaders in multi-center and single-center clinical trials and basic science to improve the care and longevity of patients with end-stage heart failure.
  • Dedicated center for research and clinical care in reversing the heart failure phenotype, with recovery and explantation of LVAD therapy on a case-by-case basis.

Left ventricular assist devices (VADs) are implantable devices that provide mechanical support to patients whose hearts are too weak to pump blood effectively. A VAD can help you stabilize or improve if you're waiting for a heart transplant, enabling you to live a productive life at home while waiting for a heart donor. For more than 25 years, NewYork-Presbyterian has been a pioneer in the field of mechanical support for people with advanced heart failure.

Our surgeons have played an integral role in the development of many groundbreaking devices and perform one to two VAD implantations each week — one of the largest volumes nationwide — with survival rates that exceed the national average. To overcome long waiting lists for donor organs and other limitations, we have spearheaded an international effort to develop VADs that provide mechanical support for failing hearts. Learn more about our LVAD program.

Some people with end-stage heart failure can have extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) — a way to artificially oxygenate the blood — at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia while waiting for a heart transplant. Our ECMO Program has been designated a Platinum Level Center of Excellence for the Excellence in Life Support Award from the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization, an international nonprofit consortium dedicated to the development of novel therapies for people with severe heart failure who require mechanical support. While transplant from ECMO should be considered a rare event, our ECMO team is skilled to manage some of the most challenging cases under extreme circumstances.

We consistently treat patients with serious, high-risk conditions, such as cardiac amyloidosis, diabetes-related end-stage organ damage, and HIV. While caring for these high-risk individuals, we are still able to achieve survival rates meeting or exceeding the national average. Patients with complex medical conditions or with multiple relative contraindications for transplant may be best served with LVAD therapy as “Destination Therapy”. In some circumstances a patient’s condition improves on LVAD therapy such that a high risk transplant might be considered reasonable and ethically appropriate.

While the transplant surgery and long-term follow up is solely at the Columbia Irving Medical Center in Washington Heights, comprehensive outpatient heart failure care, including evaluation for heart transplantation candidacy, may be performed at either the Columbia or Weill Cornell campus. At Columbia, the Center for Advanced Cardiac Care is our comprehensive heart failure center and the gateway to heart transplant evaluation. At Weill Cornell on the upper east side of Manhattan, the Perkin Center for Heart Failure and the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute also provides comprehensive heart failure management as well as transplant evaluation. For patients who are hospitalized and quite ill, who need urgent transplant evaluation, the evaluation will be performed at Columbia, as urgent transplant surgery may be required.

NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital has one of the largest pediatric heart transplant programs in the United States and ranks in the nation's top five centers for pediatric heart transplant. Our surgeons typically perform more than 25 transplants for pediatric and adult congenital heart disease each year — more than any other hospital in the country. We have also successfully pioneered transplantations in high-risk patients who are not offered heart transplants elsewhere.

 

OUR TEAM

Patients Travel From Across the Country & Around the World To Seek Care From Our World-Renowned Doctors

Your heart transplant team includes experts who will educate you and your family about the entire process and optimize your overall health while you are waiting for a heart. Your team includes a dedicated transplant coordinator, transplant surgeons and cardiologists, critical care specialists, nurses and nurse practitioners, pharmacists, psychiatrists, nutritionists, physical therapists, social workers, and financial counselors. Our goal is to help you achieve long-term survival with the highest quality of life possible.

Nir Uriel, MD, MSc
Nir Uriel, MD, MSc

Director, Heart Failure, Heart Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support Program

NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Gabriel Sayer, MD
Gabriel Sayer, MD

Associate Director, Heart Failure, Heart Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support Program

NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center

David Taylor Majure, MD, MPH
David Majure, MD, MPH

Medical Director, Adult Heart Transplant

NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center

Koji Takeda, MD, PhD
Koji Takeda, MD, PhD

Surgical Director, Adult Heart Transplant

NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Yoshifumi Naka, MD, PhD
Yoshifumi Naka, MD, PhD

Surgical Director, Adult Heart Transplant

NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center

Meet our team

OUR APPROACH TO CARE

A Team of Specialists for Every Stage of Care

The most effective treatment begins with an accurate diagnosis.

Each patient receives care from a multidisciplinary team that specializes in transplant care. This team includes a dedicated coordinator, medical doctors with expertise in the organ being transplanted, transplant surgeons, nurses, social workers, psychiatrists, dietitians, pharmacists, financial counselors, and other healthcare professionals.

Throughout the transplant process and beyond, we partner closely with the patient and their referring physicians to achieve a seamless continuum of care, while helping you navigate any emotional, financial, and logistical concerns. Our transplant teams are here for you — for life.

Contact Us

Call for an Appointment

NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Heart Failure & Transplantation Program
212-305-7600