This week Bobbi Conner talks with Dr. Minoo Kavarana about pediatric heart transplantation. Dr. Kavarana is Chief of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery & Surgical Director of Pediatric Heart Transplantation at MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital.
TRANSCRIPT:
Conner: I'm Bobbi Conner for South Carolina Public Radio with Health Focus here at the radio studio for the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. There are approximately 500 pediatric heart transplants a year in the United States. Doctor Minoo Kavarana is here to talk about heart transplantation in children. Doctor Kavarana is Chief of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery, and he's Surgical Director of Pediatric Heart Transplantation at MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital. Doctor Kavarana what are some of the reasons that a child might need a heart transplant?
Dr. Kavarana: Essentially, when a child's heart fails to pump adequate blood to the rest of the body, and when we as physicians have exhausted all possible medical therapies, often the best solution is a heart transplantation.
Conner: And what are the steps involved in finding a donor and also getting a child ready for a heart transplant?
Dr. Kavarana: So often children will present very suddenly with very vague symptoms of stomach upsets or lack of interest in feeding, sweating, poor weight gain. And the first steps are to evaluate this child for suitability for a heart transplant, with regards to the blood type, the level of antibodies that might reject the donor's heart, assessment of the size of the child's heart in order to match it to the donor's heart. And then, once all that's deemed acceptable, then the child is placed on a transplant list. Now, once a heart becomes available, then the team assesses the compatibility, and then we accept the donor organ.
Conner: And how long might that whole process typically take?
Dr. Kavarana: On an average, anywhere between 8 to 24 hours for evaluating the donor, accepting the donor, and then moving forward with the transplantation.
Conner: Can you tell us what the process is like to actually get the donor heart and then do the heart transplant on a child?
Dr. Kavarana: So, Bobbi, once we accept the heart, a donor surgeon team goes out to harvest the heart. The recipient team gets the recipient prepared in the operating room. Once the child's heart is ready to come out, the donor team flies back with the donor heart in a specialized preserved condition in cold ice. We then remove the child's heart and implant the new heart. This takes between 8 to 12 hours and involves Between 12 to 15 specialists in order to get this accomplished.
Conner: And I understand in June of 2024, there were actually two pediatric heart transplants on the very same day at MUSC Children's Hospital. That must have been this complicated process, times two.
Dr. Kavarana: That's very accurate. It was a Herculean task to organize, orchestrate and then successfully recover two complicated children that had undergone heart transplantation in a 24 hour period.
Conner: Doctor Kavarana, thanks for this information about pediatric heart transplantation.
Dr. Kavarana: Bobbi, you're welcome.
Conner: From the radio studio for the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, I'm Bobbi Conner for South Carolina Public Radio.
Health Focus transcripts are intended to accurately represent the original audio version of the program; however, some discrepancies or inaccuracies may exist. The audio format serves as the official record of Health Focus programming.
