CHILDREN’S HEALTHCARE OF ATLANTA ONE OF FIRST IN NATION TO PERFORM MULTIPLE ABO-INCOMPATIBLE HEART TRANSPLANTS

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta recently completed its second ABO-incompatible heart transplant, or a transplant where the donor’s blood type does not match the recipient’s. Children's is one of only ten centers in the nation that has performed an ABO-incompatible heart transplant on a child under one year of age and one of only three centers in the nation to have performed multiple ABO-incompatible heart transplants.

ABO-incompatible heart transplants are only possible in early infancy when there is an absence of antibodies against blood-group antigens. Therefore, the primary blood cells that would initiate rejection of the heart do not exist.

Children's  first ABO-incompatible heart transplant patient, Luke Cowdell

“One of the most exciting benefits of ABO-incompatible heart transplantation is that we are significantly expanding the effective donor pool for infants,” said Kirk Kanter, M.D., chief of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery at Emory University School of Medicine and director of the Heart and Lung Transplant program at Children’s (where pediatric heart surgery is performed by Emory surgeons). “For children, there is a median waiting time of three months on the heart transplant list, and donor availability, especially for infants, is scarce. This increased donor pool will significantly reduce that wait time and will also help minimize the waste of donor organs.”

According to UNOS, from October, 1987 to February, 2005 there have been 17 confirmed ABO-incompatible heart transplants on recipients less than one year of age. The 17 transplants were performed at 10 centers. Children's is one of only three centers in the nation to have performed more than one.

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, one of the leading pediatric healthcare systems in the country, is a not-for-profit organization that benefits from the generous philanthropic and volunteer support of our community. With 430 licensed beds in two hospitals and more than 450,000 annual patient visits, Children’s is nationally recognized for excellence in cancer, cardiac, neonatal, orthopaedic and transplant care, as well as in many other pediatric specialties. Child magazine ranks Children’s as one of the top 10 children’s hospitals nationwide and Children’s is among U.S.News & World Report’s top pediatric hospitals. To learn more about Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, visit www.choa.org  or call 404-250-KIDS.

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