The average number of inpatients waiting for transplant is 6 patients. The cardiac transplant program has an extremely busy outpatient program averaging 16 to 20 endomycardial biopsies or right heart catherizations per week. Approximately 180 cardiac transplant patients are followed in the cardiac transplant outpatient program generating 120 out patient visits per month. The number of endomycardial biopsies performed per week averages 18. Approximately 150 left heart catheterizations are performed with the annual evaluations of cardiac transplant patients on a yearly basis.
Research is an important component of the cardiac transplant program.
We are currently part of the Cardiac Transplant Research Database which is sponsored by the University of Alabama. This is a database that has been in existence since 1990 and at least 15 peer reviewed manuscripts dealing with various post-transplant issues have been published from this database. Closely linked to the cardiac transplant program is the left ventricular assist device program. This program started in 1996 with the first implantable pneumatic HeartMate. Fourteen patients have been successfully implanted with the pneumatic HeartMate, twelve of these patients have been successfully bridged to transplantation.