Mar. 23--In the region's race to establish a heart-transplant program, Florida Hospital is one step away from the finish line.
Florida Hospital officials will announce today the addition to two world-class transplant physicians to lead a team of doctors and other specialists who will perform the first heart-transplant operation in Central Florida.
"Florida Hospital has already had a successful kidney-transplant program, and the infrastructure was already in place to build a heart-transplant program," said Dr. Lawrence McBride, former director of the heart-transplant program at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in New Jersey and one of the surgeons recruited to lead Florida Hospital's new effort.
Having heart-transplant services in Central Florida will be a major benefit to patients in the region, said Dr. Robert Metzger, medical director of TransLife Organ & Tissue Donation Services in Winter Park -- one of 58 federally sanctioned organ procurement organizations nationwide.
"Waiting for an organ transplant can be both an emotionally and physically exhausting journey, but one that could ultimately result in a second chance at life," said Metzger, whose organization is responsible for organ recovery in Central Florida. "Travel is certainly a consideration for these patients, but sometimes they have no choice but to commute -- sometimes hundreds of miles -- to their transplant center."
According to 2008 state data, 33 Central Florida patients left the region to receive heart transplants at neighboring hospitals, and 24 hearts were harvested from the Central Florida area and taken to other areas for transplant.
In addition to kidney transplants, Florida Hospital also performs tissue, liver, pancreas and bone-marrow transplants.
"Heart transplants are a natural progression for Florida Hospital, and will be a major benefit to heart patients in the region who have had to go elsewhere for transplants," said Dr. Barbara Czerska, former director of the cardiac transplant center at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and the second heart-transplant surgeon recruited by Florida Hospital.
The local chapter of the American Heart Association on Monday applauded Florida Hospital's latest move to bring heart-transplant surgery to Central Florida.
"Having this procedure done locally will first restore a severely damaged heart back to full function, but also provide less stress on the patient and family as the added travel for continuous care will not be a negative factor," said Helen Donegan, board president of the American Heart Association's Orlando office. "I have heard firsthand how difficult separation from one's home and family can be during the transplant process because of a lengthy distance to the transplant facility."
Both Florida Hospital and Orlando Health, the region's other large hospital system, applied separately for state permission to start heart-transplant services. Although under previous state rules, a program needs to be performing at least two dozen procedures a year before another heart-transplant program would be considered for the same region, Gov. Charlie Crist waived that requirement and approved both hospitals' heart-transplant programs.
"Orlando Health is continuing to develop its heart-transplant program," said hospital spokeswoman Kena Lewis. "With a future addition of a heart transplant program at ORMC, our community will have a complete continuum of cardiovascular care all within one organization. It begins with the Congenital Heart Institute at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and continues through adulthood at our hospitals ... up to and including a heart transplant if needed."
This would make Orlando the only metro area in Florida with two adult heart-transplant programs. The other transplant programs in the state are in Gainesville, Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville and St. Petersburg, which has a pediatric transplant program.
Before Florida Hospital can perform its first heart transplant, it must undergo a review by the United Network for Organ Sharing, which handles the development, monitoring and enforcement of procurement and transportation of human organs.
In the meantime, McBride and Czerska are working with other health-care professionals at Florida Hospital to prepare them for the many health-care needs of transplant patients.
Apparently, it takes a village to perform a heart transplant.
"We have to have assemble a whole team that includes psychologists, nutritionists, social workers, rehabilitation personnel, infectious disease specialists," said Czerska. "They all have to agree and make sure that a patient waiting for a heart transplant has the best chances of having a good outcome."
Florida Hospital expects to perform its first transplant within the next three to four months.
"It will obviously depend on whether an organ is available," said McBride. "We can put a patient on the list, but then the waiting game begins."
Fernando Quintero can be reached at fquintero@orlandosentinel.com or 407-650-6333.
-----
To see more of The Orlando Sentinel or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.OrlandoSentinel.com.
Copyright (c) 2010, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.