Surgeons Perform Central Ohio's First Heart-Lung TransplantPosted 2/9/2005
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A 33-year-old woman has ended years of illness associated with a congenital heart defect after undergoing central Ohio’s first heart-lung transplant late Tuesday (2/8) at the Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital at The Ohio State University.A team of surgeons from the OSU Comprehensive Transplant Center pooled their expertise in a transplantation option available to patients at fewer than 50 centers in the country. The patient, Michelle Vulhop of Ironton, Ohio, was doing “very well” after the surgery, said Dr. Benjamin Sun, chief of cardiothoracic surgery and the lead surgeon during the operation. He was joined by Dr. Patrick Ross, surgical director of lung transplantation in the division of cardiothoracic surgery.  | OSUMC transplant team physicians (l to r), Patrick Ross, MD, PhD, Benjamin Sun, MD and David Feldman,MD, PhD discuss central Ohio's first heart-lung transplant | “She remains critically ill but is doing as well as we can hope for,” Sun said.The Tuesday night operation involved transplantation of a heart and two lungs. Vulhop had a complex congenital heart defect known as double outlet right ventricle, and developed severe pulmonary hypertension and congestive heart failure. “She was ill her entire life. By her mid-20s she was terribly sick, but intravenous treatments of a medication called Flolan helped stabilize her enough to get her to the point where she could be listed for the transplant,” said Dr. Curt Daniels, director of the adolescent/young adult heart disease clinic in the division of cardiovascular medicine, who has treated Vulhop for several years.Vulhop had been on the heart-lung waiting list with the United Network for Organ Sharing for at least two years, and spent nearly a year at OSU Medical Center during her wait.“It’s very common for people to wait a long time for this surgery,” Sun said. Heart-lung transplants are rare because organ donations fall well below the demand and conditions requiring replacement of the heart and both lungs are rare, as well, he said.In 2004, 71 heart-lung transplants were performed worldwide, 35 in the United States. This is the 12th such operation in Ohio.The surgery marked a new milestone in OSU Medical Center’s transplantation program, which on Friday was approved by university trustees as a newly designed comprehensive center expected to bolster an already successful program and speed development of scientific discoveries to improve the outcomes of transplant patients.OSU Medical Center performed its first heart transplant in 1986, the first lung transplant in 1998 and the first double-lung transplant in 1999.There are fewer than 50 centers in the country designated as heart-lung transplant centers by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. OSU Medical Center received the designation in September 2002. In Ohio, the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals in Cleveland are the only other centers able to perform the surgery.# # #
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Contact:Emily Caldwell
Medical Center Communications
614.293.3737
caldwell-6@medctr.osu.edu |