The cardiovascular-thoracic surgery team at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago completed its 400th pediatric heart transplant Oct. 23, the hospital said Nov. 1.
The recipient was a two-year-old girl from Moline, Ill., who is stable and doing well, according to her surgical team.
"Watching the donated heart wake up and start to beat again is a miraculous experience that never gets old," said Michael Mongé, MD, surgical director of the hospital's heart failure and transplant program. Dr. Mongé performed the transplant alongside Sunjay Kaushal, MD, PhD, division head of cardiovascular-thoracic surgery and Osama Eltayeb, MD, a pediatric heart surgeon.
A team of more than 40 providers and staff were also involved in the transplant.
Lurie Children's launched its heart transplant program in 1988. The hospital's three-year survival rate for heart transplant recipients is higher than the national average at 95 percent. For three consecutive years since 2018, the hospital has been among the top three in the U.S. by volume for pediatric heart transplants.