‘Domino’ Heart Transplant Patients Doing Well

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The patients involved in the heart ‘domino’ transplant involving the youngest living heart donor are progressing well in the recovery process and the heart donor – Jason Wolfe—has been discharged from the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) to the cardiac inpatient care unit. Valentine’s Day marks the one-month anniversary of the first-of-its-kind transplantation.

The recipient of Wolfe’s heart – Kayla Richardson – is also doing well and remains in the CICU to monitor feeding issues unrelated to the transplant.

The domino heart transplant occurred Jan. 14, 2006 at Columbus Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Four-month-old Wolfe of Fairfield County, Ohio received a combined heart, double lung transplantation from an out-of-state donor. In turn Wolfe’s heart, the domino heart, was donated to 12-week-old Richardson of Franklin County, Ohio.

Wolfe was born Sept. 30, 2005 a healthy baby boy. After exhibiting signs of illness in late December, Wolfe was transported from a local hospital to Columbus Children’s Hospital. Within 24-48 hours at Children’s, Wolfe’s condition rapidly deteriorated and was placed on the lung transplant list Jan. 12 with the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS). The diagnosis was Primary pulmonary hypertension.

Richardson was born Nov. 8, 2005 with pulmonary atresia and abnormal coronary arteries. She was admitted to Children’s Dec. 15 critically ill and eventually experienced a cardiac arrest. She was placed on ECMO, a heart-lung bypass machine, which she remained on for 10 days. Richardson was placed on the heart transplant list Jan. 4, with a prognosis of just weeks to live.

Finding a suitable match for both Wolfe and Richardson was especially challenging due to the need for small infant organs. A heart-lung match for Wolfe was located late the night of Friday, Jan. 13 from an out-of-state donor. Because of the suitable match and Wolfe’s blood type, he had the opportunity to become a universal heart donor. The Wolfe and Richardson transplant teams saw the opportunity for a heart domino transplant and immediately began the process of approval.

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