ECMO program expanding to more intensive care units

VUMC is expanding its ECMO program from its longtime home in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) to the Medical (MICU) and Trauma Intensive Care units.

More congenital heart patients becoming transplant candidates

Patients with a form of congenital heart disease — having only one ventricle (pumping chamber) — are now living longer lives due to the successful surgical and medical treatments they receive as children.

First artificial heart patient gets permanent replacement

Tim Lowell of Hernando, Mississippi, received the first total artificial heart in the state of Tennessee when the cardiac surgery team at Vanderbilt Health placed the device in his chest on Sept. 26, 2018. The mechanical heart kept him alive for nearly three months until a matching human donor heart became available and he was transplanted on Dec. 16, 2018, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Vanderbilt implants Tennessee’s first artificial heart

First heart patients transplanted using novel transport device

The heart transplant team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center successfully transplanted two hearts using a novel preservation and transport technology allowing the heart to beat outside of the body for an extended amount of time.

Heart transplant program reaches new record

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) performed a record number of heart transplants in 2017, surpassing the 2016 milestone and securing its place as the second-busiest heart transplant program in the country.