Transplant

Brandon Petree, MD, and Caitlin Demarest, MD, PhD, operate on a patient during a recent double lung transplant. (photo by Erin O. Smith)

Vanderbilt Lung Transplant establishes new record

For the second calendar year in a row, Vanderbilt Lung Transplant has the busiest program in the Southeast and leads the nation in innovation in organ preservation and regeneration.

Martin Montenovo, MD, left, and Wali Johnson, MD, perform a liver transplant in 2024. (photo by Erin O. Smith)

Vanderbilt Transplant Center reaches new heights in 2024, now the nation’s third busiest 

Through dramatic growth, the VTC is now the nation’s third busiest transplant center by volume, saving 136 more critically ill patients in calendar year 2024 than in 2023.

Various instruments sit out for use during a heart transplant surgery on Jan. 15. (photo by Erin O. Smith)

How many surgical instruments are used to set the 2024 heart transplant world record?

A standard heart transplant requires surgical instruments spread across multiple sterile tables — from tiny vascular clamps to hefty retractors to keep the surgical field open.

Robert E. Richie, MD

Kidney transplant leader Robert Richie is mourned

He helped build one of the leading kidney transplant programs in the country, both in terms of the number of transplants performed annually, and in long-term organ function and patient survival rates.

Vanderbilt Transplant Center sets world record for heart transplants in 2024

Vanderbilt transplanted 36% more hearts in 2024 than 2023. In 2024, 10 of the lifesaving procedures were performed on pediatric patients.

Reginald Porter, here with his wife, Tina, was the first at Vanderbilt to receive a combined liver transplant and Whipple procedure.

Novel procedure involves liver transplant, major abdominal surgery

Reginald Porter of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, received the procedure in September after being diagnosed at an area hospital in February with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare cancer that develops in the bile ducts.

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