Pediatric Heart Transplantation Program

The Children's Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) is a nationally renowned leader in children's healthcare and home to the Pediatric Heart Transplantation Program. The program's team has pioneered innovative, life-saving treatments that have led to a 100 percent success rate within the first year following transplantation. Composed of exceptional physicians in the fields of pediatrics, surgery, transplantation and cardiovascular care, this multidisciplinary team has conducted 17 successful transplantations within the program's first three years of operation, achieving a volume that is comparable to more established, mid-sized transplant programs in the United States.

Transplantation Services

Our cardiac surgeons and cardiologists are dedicated to treating patients with heart failure.
The Pediatric Heart Transplantation Program offersmany diagnostic and treatment options for young patients with heart failure, including:

• Medical management
• Surgical bridge provided by the implantation of a left ventricular assist device (LVAD)
• Transplantation

Our team has considerable experience treating young children, including newborns and infants. The average age of our patient population is only 12 months old, which is below the average age of patients at other transplantation centers. From diagnosis to treatment and rehabilitation, our multidisciplinary team provides comprehensive care to meet every patient’s needs and to support long-term heart health.

Most Experienced in Region and Becoming a Center of Choice for the Nation

Performing transplantation on young patients poses different kinds of challenges from treating adults. The Pediatric Transplantation Surgery team is led by several nationally and internationally recognized leaders in the study and treatment of pediatric heart disease and transplantation, including Daphne Hsu, MD, Chief of Pediatric Cardiology and Co-Director of the Pediatric Heart Center, and François Lacour-Gayet, MD, Chief of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery and Co-Director of the Pediatric Heart Center at CHAM. There are also several prominent specialists on the team, including Samuel Weinstein, MD, Surgical Director of Pediatric Transplantation; Jacqueline Lamour, MD, Director of Pediatric Advanced Cardiac Therapies; Robert Pass, MD, Director of Pediatric Electrophysiology and Director of Pediatric Interventional Cardiology; and Leo Lopez, MD, Director of Pediatric Noninvasive Imaging. 

National Research Studies

CHAM's Pediatric Heart Transplantation Program team participates in a number of groundbreaking research studies that are designed to advance the technology, therapies and outcomes for children with heart failure. 

Our multicenter efforts include:

• A National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Pediatric Cardiomyopathy Registry and a Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ (PedsQL™)
• A Pediatric Heart Transplant Study Group database, and an Alloantibodies in Pediatric Heart Transplant (CTOT-C 4) project sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) with co-funding from the NHLBI 
• Single-center studies focusing on infectious diseases in pediatric heart transplantation patients and critical states—including vasodilatory shock—following transplantation