Transplant – Page 6 – Texas Children's News

January 5, 2016

Three and half years ago, the Herrington family embarked on a journey that would lead them to Texas Children’s Hospital, a place that has since become near and dear to their hearts. Shortly after birth, the youngest member of the family, Parson Blue, was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition that attacked the infant’s lungs, leaving her in need of a transplant.

At just 11 months old, Parson got what she needed – two new lungs – and has been on the road to recovery ever since. Her mother, Jennifer Herrington, said throughout the process the amazing doctors and nurses at Texas Children’s became family.

“They not only cared for our child but our entire family,” Herrington said. “That care was not only life-changing but heart-changing as well.”

To thank the staff at Texas Children’s for what they did for Parson and what they do for so many other children each and every day, the Herringtons organized a book drive benefitting the hospital and honoring their daughter’s love for the written word. The drive turned out to be a bigger success than the family anticipated, allowing them to donate almost 3,000 books, all of which will be available to the thousands of patients treated at Texas Children’s year after year.

“We wanted to give back to the hospital that has been such a huge part of our lives,” Herrington said. “The donation of books to Texas Children’s Hospital is such a small return for what the organization has given to our family.”

To read more about Parson’s story, read Herrington’s blog here. To read about another family that donated a handmade toddler play yard to Texas Children’s to thank caregivers for helping their son recover from cancer, click here.

August 14, 2015

Texas Children’s Hospital Transplant Services team is hosting the 2015 Pediatric Transplant Symposium at Texas Children’s Hospital.

The conference will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, September 4, at the Texas Children’s Hospital Pavilion for Women fourth-floor conference center. Lunch will be provided.

Any health care professional with an interest in the care of transplant patients and those who currently care for transplant patients, are encouraged to attend. The topics discussed at the conference will be great for:

Faculty, fellows, residents and trainees involved in the care of transplant patients
Primary care physicians caring for transplant patients outside the inpatient hospital setting
Nurses and other health care professionals
Transplant multidisciplinary team members (PT/OT, dietitians, social workers, pharmacists, child life, staff nurses, surgical team, ambulatory care)

Attendees will learn more about:

Transplant ethics
Medical issues in transplantation
Cutting edge advancements in thoracic & abdominal transplantation
Transplant regulatory implications/compliance/readiness

Please register for the conference at: http://texaschildrens.org/transplant2015/ and see the website for specific continuing education information and registration details.

Contact Melissa Nugent, clinical educator for Transplant Services, at msnugent@texaschildrens.org with questions.

July 14, 2015

Texas Children’s Heart Center and the section of Critical Care Medicine cut the ribbon July 6 on a new, first-of-its-kind pediatric Heart Failure Intensive Care Unit. This highly-specialized 12-bed unit focuses on the treatment of children with heart failure, as well as those requiring intensive care before and after heart transplant.

“We are thrilled to be the first in the nation to offer this highly-specialized level of pediatric critical care,” said Dr. Paul Checchia, medical director of the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit at Texas Children’s Hospital. “Patient outcomes will only continue to improve as we treat their unique needs in this new setting.”

Checchia and Dr. Lara Shekerdemian, chief of critical care medicine at Texas Children’s Hospital, oversee the unit. Drs. Antonio Cabrera and Jack Price, associate professors of pediatrics-cardiology and critical care at Baylor, serve as associate medical directors of the unit. Shekerdemian had the honor of leading the recent ribbon cutting, which was attended by attended by the CVICU team, Heart Center leadership, Physician-in-Chief Dr. Mark W. Kline, Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Charles D. Fraser Jr., Chief of Pediatric Cardiology Dr. Daniel Penny, and other Texas Children’s leaders.

“We are excited about our additional capacity and space to care for our critically ill cardiovascular patients in a less congested and more family supportive setting, said Kerry Sembera, a heart center clinical liaison.

Sembera and Gail Parazynski, assistant vice president of Critical Care, worked in collaboration with physician leadership to execute a successful intensive care room design as well as plan for safe transition of patients to this new environment. Patient Care Manager Amanada Wollam in partnership with the CVICU nursing team, were enthusiastic champions of the unit leading to a seamless transition.

The heart failure and cardiac transplantation programs at Texas Children’s Heart Center are among the largest and most successful programs in the world. More than 650 cardiomyopathy patients are cared for each year by a team of physicians, nurse coordinators and administrative personnel. When a transplant is not immediately available, a variety of circulatory support devices are used as a bridge to transplantation. Currently, Texas Children’s Heart Center is able to offer a wide range of mechanical circulatory support devices, as well as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), to children whose hearts are failing: Maquet Rotaflow, Cardiac Assist Tandem Heart, Thoratec Paracorporeal VAD (ventricular assist device), Thoratec HeartMate II, Berlin Heart EXCOR, Heartware LVAD and Syncardia Total Artificial Heart.

May 11, 2015

Bench and Bedside is a digest of the previous month’s stories about the clinical and academic activities of our physicians and scientists. We welcome your subsmissions and feedback.

April 28

Countdown to ICD-10: Deadline to meet educational requirements is September 1

On October 1, Texas Children’s and hospitals across the nation will switch from ICD-9 to the ICD-10 coding system to report patients’ diagnoses and procedures. The ICD-10 codes will allow greater specificity and accuracy in describing a patient’s diagnosis and classifying inpatient procedures. Texas Children’s education teams have developed helpful tools to ensure all employees are prepared for this mandatory conversion.

“We believe that communicating the change clearly and consistently will help ensure a smooth transition,” said Texas Children’s Chief Safety Officer Dr. Joan Shook. Read more

April 28

Super Star Physician: Dr. Stephanie Marton

Dr. Stephanie Marton from the Center for Children and Women – Greenspoint is the latest Texas Children’s Super Star physician. “Every day I see patients coming in to the Center, and I directly see the impact that Texas Children’s Hospital is making in this community.” Read more

April 28

Giardino to serve on ABMQ Board of Directors

Texas Children’s Chief Quality Officer and Senior Vice President Dr. Angelo Giardino was recently unanimously confirmed to serve on the American Board of Medical Quality (ABMQ) Board of Directors. The organization is closely associated with the American College of Medical Quality of which Giardino is a distinguished fellow. Read more

April 28

Patel receives distinguished fellowship award

Dr. Akash Patel will be presented with the 2015-2016 Christopher R. Getch Fellowship Award from the Congress of Neuroligical Surgeons Fellowships Committee during its annual meeting in September. This prestigious award provides $100,000 for advanced training and is given to a neurosurgeon or fellow engaged in clinical research that promises to significantly impact the field of neurosurgery. Read more

April 28

Dr. George Bisset receives prestigious award

Radiologist-in-Chief Dr. George Bisset will be honored for his contribution to pediatric radiology at the 45th annual Sociedade Paulista de Radiologia (SPR) meeting held in Brazil. The conference is the biggest diagnostic imaging meeting in Latin America and the fourth largest in the world. Bisset will be the first non-Brazilian to receive honorary membership in this organization. Read more

April 21

New Cain Labs website promotes groundbreaking epilepsy research

Texas Children’s has launched a new website dedicated to innovative epilepsy research conducted at the Cain Foundation Laboratories in the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute and other test centers around the world. The website also includes a repository of helpful information about epilepsy treatment programs for patients and their families, including a link to Texas Children’s Level IV Epilepsy Center. Read more

April 21

Surgeon-in-chief speaks at Texas Surgical Society meeting

Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Charles D. Fraser, Jr. spoke at a Texas Surgical Society meeting on April 11 in Galveston. Fraser, who is the son-in-law of Dr. Denton A. Cooley, talked about the hospital’s 60-year history of pediatric heart surgery and the roles played by Cooley and himself. More

April 20

Texas Children’s Hospital helps determine standard of care for children with cleft lip and palate

Representatives from Texas Children’s Hospital: Dr. Laura Monson, pediatric plastic surgeon; Christy Hernandez, director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Outcomes and Impact Service; and Dr. John Wirthlin, craniofacial orthodontist, joined an international group of medical professionals, patients and parents to determine a standard set of outcome measures for children born with cleft lip and palate. These guidelines will help all institutions develp a standard treatment of care of this population of patients and will be available for implementation starting in February. Read more

April 14

Lee recognized for his contribution to fetal imaging advancements

Dr. Wesley Lee, co-director of Texas Children’s Fetal Center and section chief for women’s and fetal imaging at Baylor College of Medicine, recently received the William J. Fry Memorial Lecture Award from the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM). Read more

April 14

New PAPRs help provide full complement of PPE

Texas Children’s recently acquired 30 powered air purifying respirators (or PAPRs) to protect emergency responders from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear agents. This addition to our PPE inventory helps ensure the safety of our health care professionals when they are treating patients with highly contagious infectious diseases. Read more

April 14

Texas Children’s, AAP partnership helps physicians advocate for their patients

Texas Children’s and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) signed a first-of-its-kind partnership agreement whereby every eligible faculty member of the Baylor College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics is a member in the AAP and the Texas Pediatric Society (TPS). Since this partnership began a year and a half ago, the following Texas Children’s faculty have been actively involved with the AAP and TPS to champion the health, safety and well-being of children: Dr. Robert Voigt, Dr. Robert Ricketts, Dr. Mark Gilger, Dr. Fernando Stein, Dr. Carol Tapia, Dr. Mark Ward, Dr. Krithka Lingappan and Dr. Bruno Chumpitazi. Read more

April 14

Texas Children’s Hospital receives Healthcare Informatics Magazine’s 2015 Innovator Award

Texas Children’s Hospital has earned second place in Healthcare Informatics Magazine’s fourteenth annual Innovator Awards. The award was given to Texas Children’s for its quality improvement work to identify, deploy and measure new best practices and improve outcomes for children with appendicitis.

“We felt there was an urgent need in the health care industry to accelerate the identification and deployment of shared guidelines of care,” said Dr. Charles Macias, Texas Children’s Chief Clinical Systems Integration Officer and Evidence Based Outcomes Center director. Read more

April 14

New pediatric urologist joins Department of Surgery

Dr. Duong Dai Tu has joined Texas Children’s as a new pediatric urologist. Tu, who started April 1, has been appointed assistant professor of urology and attending surgeon in urology at Baylor College of Medicine.

“Dr. Tu is bringing an exciting vision to the surgery team that will help us continue to develop a preeminent program, enabling us to better serve our patients and their families,” chief of Urology, Dr. David Roth said. Read more

April 7

Texas Children’s welcomes new surgeon and researcher, Dr. Sundeep Keswani

Dr. Sundeep Keswani joined Texas Children’s as a pediatric and fetal surgeon and an associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine. He also is the principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded laboratory. Read more

April 7

Transplant team perform 95 organ transplants in 2014

Transplant teams with Texas Children’s Hospital performed 95 solid organ transplants in 2014, continuing to serve as one of the largest, most active and successful pediatric transplant programs in the nation. The heart and the lung transplant programs were the largest in the country last year with 32 heart transplants and 16 lung transplants.

“Texas Children’s Transplant Services continues to earn its reputation as one of the best pediatric transplant programs in the country,” said Dr. John Goss, medical director of Transplant Services. Read more

April 7

CRC presents resarch award to Dr. Srivaths

The Clinical Research Center presented the Clinical Research Award for First Quarter 2015 to Dr. Poyyapakkam Srivaths, Department of Pediatrics – Renal, Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Srivaths’s research activities in the CRC focus on investigating cardiovascular morbidity associated with end stage renal disease (ESRD) in children. Read more

April 21, 2015

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Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Charles D. Fraser, Jr. spoke at a Texas Surgical Society meeting on April 11 in Galveston. Fraser, who is the son-in-law of Dr. Denton A. Cooley, talked about the hospital’s 60-year history of pediatric heart surgery and the roles played by Cooley and himself.

In 1954, Texas Children’s Hospital opened, and soon thereafter, Cooley initiated a surgical program for children with congenital heart disease. Initial efforts focused on palliative procedures, including the Blalock-Taussig Shunt, followed by early intracardiac repairs using the heart-lung bypass machine.

Texas Children’s was quickly established as a center for the development of surgical techniques for children with all forms of cardiac disease. In 1995, an integrated, dedicated children’s heart center was developed by Fraser, adding additional focus on complex repairs, particularly in newborn babies.

Since the inception of the program in 1954, there have been more than 27,000 cardiac operations performed at Texas Children’s, including successive increases in case volume in each decade. In the present era, more than 20 percent of patients are newborns and 50 percent are infants.

To provide every available therapeutic option, a pediatric cardiac transplant program was initiated in 1984 and to date, more than 325 pediatric heart transplant operations have been performed. In 2001, a lung transplant program was opened and to date, 165 pediatric lung transplants have been performed.

Each decade has seen increasing case volumes and complexity, but with steadily improved mortality rates, now consistently <2 percent and specifically <1 percent in 2014, which is well above the national average of 3 percent.

April 7, 2015

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Transplant teams with Texas Children’s Hospital performed 95 solid organ transplants in 2014, continuing to serve as one of the largest, most active, and successful pediatric transplant programs in the nation.

The heart and the lung transplant programs were the largest in the country last year. Overall, Texas Children’s was the second largest transplant program in the country. Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital was the largest with a total of 102 transplants.

“Texas Children’s Transplant Services continues to earn its reputation as one of the best pediatric transplant programs in the country,” said Dr. John Goss, medical director of Transplant Services.

“In 2014 – the 30th anniversary of the Heart Transplant program – the service performed the most transplants in its history. In addition, all of our transplant services continue to produce great outcomes for our patients.”

Goss said Transplant Services sponsored its first Transplant Symposium in 2014 and added a dedicated immunologist who is researching the interactions between allographic responses.

“I believe our success is a testimony to the skill and commitment of our multidisciplinary team,” he said.

December 16, 2014

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Texas Children’s Hospital recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of its heart transplant program. Since its inception in 1984, Texas Children’s Heart Center has performed more than 300 heart transplants, making the program one of the most active and largest in the nation.

A team of experts – including heart transplant surgeons, pediatric cardiologists, transplant coordinators and dietitians, child life specialists, social workers, pharmacists, physical and occupational therapists, infectious diseases experts, immunology physicians and dedicated nurses – focuses on each aspect of the patient’s care. The team’s experience, compassion and access to state-of-the-art facilities helps children in need of heart transplants survive and thrive.

“The true results of our team’s exceptional work over the past 30 years can be seen in the hundreds of success stories of our patient families,” said Texas Children’s Heart Failure, Cardiomyopathy and Cardiac Transplantation Medical Director Dr. Jeff Dreyer. “As one of the largest programs in the nation, our experience in treating patients with heart failure is leading the way in positive outcomes.”

The multidisciplinary team at Texas Children’s has transplanted hearts in newborns to young adults from across the United States. Due to the transplant team’s unique expertise, Texas Children’s Heart Transplant Program sees some of the rarest and most complex cases, resulting in the best possible outcome for each child.

“Texas Children’s has been a pioneer in all aspects of pediatric cardiovascular surgery, and our heart transplant program is a shining example of this,” said Heart and Lung Transplant Program Surgical Director Dr. Jeffrey Heinle. “Over the past 30 years, Texas Children’s has consistently led innovations in this field, bringing hope to children and adolescents from all over in need of a heart transplant.”

Texas Children’s Heart Center is on the cutting-edge of ventricular assist device (VAD) placement, which provides circulatory support until a transplant can be received. The center offers the best VAD tailored to each child’s size, diagnosis and needs for both short- and long-term assistance.

Texas Children’s Heart Center is ranked No. 2 nationally in cardiology and heart surgery by U.S. News & World Report.

To learn more about Texas Children’s Heart Transplant Program, click here.

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