Expert, Coordinated Care from Two of Cincinnati’s Best
Cincinnati Children’s has teamed up with UC Health to offer heart-liver transplants for patients in need, including single ventricle patients. Our joint Heart-Liver Transplant Program combines the skill of care teams in the Cincinnati Children’s Fontan Management Clinic and UC Health Transplant Program.
The Fontan circulation impacts both the heart and liver. Therefore, heart-liver transplants may be the only option for some patients with a Fontan circulation. These patients can expect the best from both medical centers. Cincinnati Children’s is one of the only hospitals in the country to provide complete care for adults with single ventricle defects, including special expertise in treating the liver. UC Health provides the region’s only comprehensive adult transplant program. Its team conducts leading-edge research that has advanced the field of transplantation.
Who might be a candidate for a heart-liver transplant?
People with coexisting heart and liver disease may be candidates for heart-liver transplant. One group that frequently benefits from heart-liver transplant, rather than heart transplant alone, is people with single ventricle heart defects who have a Fontan circulation and advanced liver disease whose best chance at long-term survival is with a combined heart-liver transplant
Why is it a benefit to have both a children’s and adult hospital involved?
For adults with single ventricle heart defects, it is important to receive your care at an accredited comprehensive adult congenital heart care center like Cincinnati Children’s. Cincinnati Children’s has experts to manage your heart and other organ issues that are unique to patients born with heart defects while you are waiting for a transplant.
On the adult side, UC Health has the only adult heart and liver transplant program in Cincinnati. Their transplant team will help manage transplant concerns that are more commonly encountered in older patients. UC Health is also ranked among the top 20 in the nation for number of liver transplants performed each year.
What can heart-liver transplant patients expect?
UC Health and Fontan Management Clinic care teams will work together to provide your care. UC Health team members include adult heart doctors (cardiologists), liver doctors (hepatologists), intensive care doctors (intensivists), surgeons and support providers, such as social work, psychologists, and occupational and physical therapists. They collaborate with Cincinnati Children’s for the full scope of care from your first evaluation through post-transplant follow-up.
If you're an adult, you will have your initial evaluation at Cincinnati Children’s, and your operation will take place there as well. Post-transplant care will be in the Cincinnati Children’s Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU). Then, depending on how you are doing, you will be transferred to the Cincinnati Children’s Acute Care Cardiology Unit or UC Health.
Some follow-up care will occur at Cincinnati Children’s for up to one year following transplant. After the first year, all follow-up visits will take place at UC Health. Pediatric patients will receive all of their pre-transplant and post-transplant care at Cincinnati Children's.
