For the sixth consecutive year, Texas Children’s Hospital leads the nation in pediatric transplants, as reported by the Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network (OPTN), the country’s unique public-private registry for organ matching.
The newly released OPTN data places the nation’s largest children’s hospital at No. 1 for pediatric heart, liver and lung transplants, and No. 2 for pediatric kidney transplants in the United States.
In 2022, Texas Children’s Transplant Services successfully performed 99 transplants, outpacing all other children’s hospitals by more than 20 complex surgeries.
“The Transplant Services team has consistently exceeded benchmarks, advanced research and established Texas Children’s as the top hospital for life-saving pediatric organ transplants,” said President and CEO Mark A. Wallace. “I am so proud of everything this team has accomplished and, most importantly, how many children’s lives they have saved. The passion and dedication of each member of this team is an inspiration to everyone at Texas Children’s.”
A track record that speaks for itself
In 2022, the Texas Children’s Hospital Transplant Services team celebrated another milestone: the 20th anniversary of its lung transplant program, through which our experts have performed 240 life-saving surgeries since 2002. The team is well-equipped to care for patients with the most complex and complicated conditions, including infants and children on life support. Over the last decade, Texas Children’s has performed more infant lung transplants than any other hospital in the nation.
Additionally, Texas Children’s Hospital received approval in 2022 from the OPTN to launch the nation’s first uterine transplant program housed within a pediatric transplant hospital. This innovative program, which aims to utilize uterus transplantation as a treatment option to help women with absolute uterine factor infertility (AUFI) achieve healthy pregnancies, will be a close partnership between the Transplant Services team and the Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women.
“While we are proud to have the highest volume of pediatric transplants, we are even more encouraged by our success rate,” said Dr. Larry H. Hollier, Surgeon-in-Chief and Department of Surgery Chair. “Our patients need and deserve the very best. Their outcomes are our top priority, and our pediatric transplant success rate is a testament to our commitment to them. Texas Children’s experts possess a depth of skill and service, both within the transplant program and throughout the hospital, that enables patients – from infants to young adults – to receive life-saving lung, heart, liver and kidney transplants and best-in-class care.”
Providing complex, multifaceted medical and surgical care
The Transplant Services team employs a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach through each aspect of the transplant process, ranging from initial referrals, which are accepted from around the world, to hospitalization and post-transplant outpatient care. The multidisciplinary team of pediatric transplant experts works closely with patients, families and referring physicians to make the evaluation process as convenient and efficient as possible.
Continuing its record of innovation and excellence, Texas Children’s Transplant Services team often achieves success with cases that other programs may consider untreatable. Its impressive list of firsts includes:
- The first successful infant heart transplant in the United States.
- The first pediatric lung-kidney transplant in the United States.
- The hospital’s first – and one of only three in the nation – triple transplant of heart, lungs and liver in one procedure.
“We are only able to provide our patients with these life-saving transplants because of selfless organ donors and their families,” said Dr. John A. Goss, Medical Director of Transplant Services. “These heroes make each transplant success story possible, and the doctors, surgeons, care teams and pediatric transplant patients and families are so thankful for the gift of life from each donor.”
For more information on Transplant Services, click here.