Heart Transplants

For the treatment of end-stage heart disease, Medical City has a dedicated advanced practice nurse and state-of-the-art technologies, as well as research opportunities. The heart transplant program at Medical City provides support for both adults and pediatric patients suffering from cardiac disease.

Medical City performs more heart transplants each year than any other facility in North Texas. The program utilizes numerous artificial heart assist devices, allowing patients to stay at home while waiting for a donor heart. When it’s time to perform the transplant, our physicians have access to the latest technology and a team of nurses and staff dedicated to transplant procedures. Our team takes pride in using a multidisciplinary approach to heart failure management and transplantation.

Cardiologists, surgeons, transplant physicians, transplant coordinators and social workers are trained in the recognition and management of the unique problems of patients with congenital heart disease and congestive heart failure. The center has achieved patient and graft survival rates that well exceed the national average.

101 and counting.  Medical City's heart failure team celebrates with LVAD patients, recognizing the program's success.

(Left to Right):  Linda Eccher, Lois Coker, James Ham, Earl Gunnels, Amy Adamson, Isaiah Johnson and Chris Wren
(Left to Right, first row):  Dr. Jed Rosenthal, Dr. Allan Anderson, Darinka Savor, RN, and Dr. Todd Dewey

Bridging the Gap
Nurse's Unique Role Helps Hospital Reach Milestone

Medical City recently celebrated its 101st LVAD (left ventricular assist device) implant.  Designed to help maintain the heart's pumping ability while patients await a heart transplant, the battery operated mechanical device has improved the quality of life for heart patients whose hearts may have otherwise given out before they were able to receive a transplant.

Medical City remains one of the few facilities in the region to offer LVAD implants, attracting heart patients from all across Texas and neighboring states.  Below, Darinka Savor, RN, share more about her unique role as LVAD supervisor.

How did your position come about?
Medical City enrolled the first patient into an LVAD research study in 1996.  My position was created to establish one central team member to serve as the liaison between patients, our physicians and the community.  An important part of the role also involves providing the critical education needed to support LVAD patients.

What makes your position unique to Medical City and among local hospitals?
Currently, Medical City is one of only two North Texas hospitals qualified to implant heart-assist devices.  The technology is very complex, so we spend a significant amount of time educating patients, families, referring doctors, employers, EMS teams and the general community about how to respond to and treat our LVAD patients.  This often involves traveling to small towns to teach the medical communities how to care for LVAD patients in an emergency, until they are able to be transferred to Medical City.

What do you enjoy most about what you do?
My most satisfying moment is to see the patients walk through the hospital doors unassisted, laughing, smiling and full of life when just a short time ago that was almost taken away from them.  So many patients tell me they haven't felt this good in years.  They are able to return to normal activities; some go back to work or school or simply enjoy the common, everyday things we take for granted.

Do you have a particularly interesting experience that you encountered while out in the field?
The most alarming and perhaps rewarding experience I've encountered was when we received a call that one of our patients, in Stephenville, had an event.  We had conducted a training session with the community just two weeks before, and the medical team there responded beautifully.  He was airlifted to Medical City and returned to his home just a few days later.  In addition, he received a heart transplant the very next month.  We teach emergency training for our LVAD patients, yet hope there will never be need to apply what was learned.  The Stephenville community helped to save a very precious life that day.