Strong performs its first heart transplant

Chen

The patient, David Beatson, was upgraded to satisfactory condition at the beginning of last week and moved to a regular cardiac unit. He was expected to be discharged as early as two weeks after his surgery was performed.

Beatson's name was entered into the database of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) on January 26, and he had been first on the cardiac transplant list at Strong.

"Although our first heart transplant procedure was done in a matter of hours, it has taken many months of hard work to establish this program," said Leway Chen, director and senior transplant cardiologist for the Strong program. "Each of our team members--including our surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, and our friends at the Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network--has worked tirelessly to make heart transplantation in Rochester a reality."

Massey

Chen leads the transplant program with H. Todd Massey, who joined the Medical Center last fall as the program's senior transplant surgeon.

"We are pleased we could provide Mr. Beatson with a heart transplant in his hometown, close to family and firends and his doctors," Massey said. "That is the reason we began the Progam in Heart Failure and Transplantation--to care for the patients here in Upstate New York."

Beatson was diagnosed in 1995 with cardiomyopathy, a weakening of the heart muscle that causes enlargement of the organ, making it an inefficient pump. The cause of his cardiomyopathy is unclear, although it may have been from a virus.

The surgery began at about 1 a.m. on February 7, and Beatson was resting in the cardiac intensive care unit by 7 a.m.

Approved by UNOS, Strong's cardiac transplant program is an addition to existing, successful transplant programs for kidney, pancreas, small bowel, liver, and bone marrow.

For additional information about the Program in Heart Failure and Transplantation, call (800) 892-4964 or x3-3760.

For information about organ donation, call (800) 810-5494, or visit the Web site www.donorrecovery.org.

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