New York City-based Hassenfeld Children's Hospital, part of NYU Langone Health, has completed its first pediatric heart transplant in a patient with a rare condition.
The transplant was performed Aug. 28 on an 18-year-old patient with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, according to a Sept. 21 news release. HCM is a disease in which the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick, interfering with its ability to pump blood to the rest of the body.
The procedure was performed by T.K. Susheel Kumar, MD, surgical director of the pediatric heart failure and transplant program at Hassenfeld Children's, and Nader Moazami, MD, surgical director of adult heart transplantation at NYU Langone Transplant Institute.
The patient, Maz Zisan, was diagnosed with HCM when he was 16 and received a defibrillator implant before being listed for a transplant.
"It was clear after months of monitoring Maz that he was quite limited in doing basic things around the house and outside," said Rakesh Singh, MD, medical director of Hassenfeld Children's pediatric heart failure and transplant program. "A treadmill stress test in March showed a significant decline in his exercise capacity and given his continued heart failure symptoms despite maximal medical management of his HCM, the only option for improved quality of life was a heart transplant."
The American Heart Association estimates that a large portion of patients with the condition are undiagnosed since many people experience few or no symptoms. HCM can progress into arrhythmias or heart failure.