The heart transplant program at UC San Diego Health has demonstrated the best one-year survival rate for patients in the United States among health care providers with a volume of more than 50 heart transplants per year, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR).
“At one year, 98.7% of our patients are alive and enjoying excellent health with their new hearts,” said Victor Pretorius, MBChB, surgical director of cardiac transplant and mechanical circulatory support at UC San Diego Health.
“UC San Diego performs exceptionally high across all measurements including better waitlist survival, less time waiting for transplantation, and the impressive one-year survival rates,” said Eric Adler, MD, cardiologist and director of cardiac transplant and mechanical circulatory support. “Our patients have impressive survival on the waitlist because we have outstanding physicians and allied health professionals, access to the best technology, and excellent organ availability. But what makes us special is that we are a team who is committed to doing exactly what we would do if the person walking into our clinic is family; that mindset makes all the difference,”
“We attribute the one-year survival rates to an incredible group effort from highly skilled professionals,” said Pretorius, who has performed more than 250 heart transplant surgeries. “Dedication and years of experience are vital in allowing us to progressively offer heart transplantation to more patients, even the ones with the most complex conditions. Internationally recognized research and clinical efforts in the field have made San Diego a destination for the most desperate heart failure patients.”
Pretorius also attributes the overall success of the program to phenomenal communication, coordination and teamwork.
“We have an incredible team who guides our patients and families through their entire transplant experience,” said Pretorius. “Every patient has a personal team of surgeons, cardiologists, nurses, physician assistants, infectious disease experts, social workers, dieticians, pharmacists, transplant coordinators, quality specialists, financial coordinators and support staff.”
The heart transplant program at Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center, part of the institute, is the largest in San Diego and the third largest in California, placing it among the nation’s top performing transplant centers. U.S. News & World Report ranks the cardiology and heart surgery programs at UC San Diego Health as among the best in the nation.
For more information, visit health.ucsd.edu.
