Five things to know about our pediatric heart transplant program

A heart transplant is just one of many possible treatment options for children with heart failure, but it’s a critical one for those who need it. Our experienced team at the Pediatric Heart Center at M Health Fairview Masonic Children’s Hospital offers the full array of treatments, from medication to mechanical assist devices to multidisciplinary transplant care for kids of all ages. 

We also provide comprehensive diagnosis and treatment for all types of heart conditions, some of which can lead to heart failure, starting before a child is even born. While heart failure fortunately remains rare in children, we’re here as a lifeline for families in Minnesota and beyond who need advanced care. We’re proud to offer some of the best long-term success rates and outcomes of any pediatric heart program in the country.  

Here are five things to know about our heart transplant program.

We have a strong history of transplant care for children.

Our pediatric heart transplantation program formally began in 1986 and was the first in Minnesota. We’ve performed over 1,000 heart transplants, including over 150 in children. Our first pediatric heart transplant recipient from 1986 is still alive and healthy today, over three decades after transplantation. Our youngest heart transplant patient was just one month old at the time of surgery. We also performed the world’s first heart transplant in an infant.

Today we are home to two pediatric heart transplant surgeons: Syed Peer, MD, who also serves as an associate professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School; and Pranava Sinha, MD, co-director of the Pediatric Heart Center and surgical director of Pediatric Heart Transplantation at our children’s hospital.

Sinha is also division chief of pediatric cardiac surgery at University of Minnesota Medical School and serves as the inaugural holder of the John Bass Chair in Pediatric Cardiovascular Health, a position created with funding from longtime Pediatric Heart Center supporters Franck and Katina Gougeon.

We offer advanced cardiac therapies.

Heart failure can require different levels of treatment in children.  At the more advanced end of the spectrum are mechanical assist devices, devices outside the body which help the heart pump blood. These devices are most often used to keep children with end-stage heart failure, who need more than medication, as healthy as possible until recovery or transplantation.

We’re approved to implant the Berlin Heart® mechanical assist device in children and infants and have successfully used the Berlin Heart since 2008. This pump is often the only mechanical assist option for small children. 

Not only do we provide heart failure therapies for children of all ages, in conjunction with our adult heart failure and transplant program, we also offer advanced heart failure care including various types of mechanical assist devices for adults with congenital heart disease, allowing us to support children from infancy through adulthood.

“Our team works with families to provide a range of advanced cardiac care options and to help children stay as healthy as possible while waiting for a heart,” said Sinha.