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Advancing Progress and Possibilities for a Healthier Future

A Historic
Milestone in
Transplant
Medicine

In 1970 Dr. John Ochsner, a trailblazing pioneer in cardiac surgery, performed Ochsner’s
first heart transplant — and
the first such procedure ever performed in the Gulf South.

Left to right: Dr. Hector Ventura, Devine King (1,000th heart transplant recipient) and
Dr. Robert Hart celebrate this milestone at the Ochsner Red Tie Affair.

It was a historic event — and would set Ochsner on a path to become a leader in transplant medicine. Nearly a half-century later, in 2019 Ochsner achieved another historic milestone when a multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses and medical professionals from the John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute (JOHVI) and the Ochsner Multi-Organ Transplant Institute performed Ochsner’s 1,000th heart transplant. With the successful completion of this procedure, Ochsner became only the 14th provider in the nation to reach 1,000 heart transplants — joining Cleveland Clinic, Duke University, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the University of Pennsylvania in this achievement.

At any given moment there are thousands of U.S. women, men and children on the waiting list for a heart transplant. For our highly skilled multidisciplinary team comprised of professionals in cardiology, heart failure, transplant, surgery, perfusion, operating room, intensive care and nursing, it’s tremendously meaningful and rewarding to take part in a successful, lifesaving transplant.

Ochsner is only the 14th provider in the nation to reach 1,000 heart transplants — joining Cleveland Clinic, Duke University, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the University of Pennsylvania in this achievement.

Since its inception in 1984 the team at the Ochsner Multi-Organ Transplant Institute has successfully performed more than 7,000 liver, kidney, pancreas, heart and lung transplants in adult and pediatric patients, and through its living donor program for living liver and living kidney transplants.

Ochsner’s 1,000th heart transplant is only the Institute’s latest accomplishment. JOHVI performed its 500th left ventricular assist device (LVAD) in 2017, and today conducts more than 100 clinical trials to advance the knowledge of the treatment and diagnosis of cardiovascular disease. With the only pediatric heart transplant program in Louisiana, Ochsner’s Pediatric and Adult Congenital Cardiac Surgery Program in 2019 achieved 100% survival in neonatal and child heart surgeries.

Nearly 50 years after Dr. John Ochsner’s groundbreaking achievement, Ochsner continues to write new chapters in our story of providing exceptional lifesaving cardiac and transplant care.