Primary Children's Hospital - Salt Lake City

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Heart Transplant Clinic

801-213-3599

81 North Mario Capecchi Drive

Salt Lake City, UT 84113

This department offers

  • Pediatric heart transplant program

Our providers ( undefined )

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Our care team

Our team is led by nationally recognized experts with more than 75 years of combined pediatric heart transplant experience. The transplant team is here to help you, your child, and family, and includes pediatric cardiologists, heart transplant surgeons, registered nurses, social workers, transplant assistants and coordinators, pharmacists, dietitians, and other support staff.

Child & family care

We understand how important it is to support the entire family when a child has serious health issues. In addition to focusing on the best care for your child, we have dedicated resources for family support. Our team includes physicians, therapists, child life specialists, teachers, and volunteers that engage your family with therapeutic activities, positive distraction, and social support.  

Pediatric to Adult Transition Program

Adolescents and young adults face risk when transferring their care from a pediatric setting to adult care. Children who received a transplant at a very young age may not have a good understanding of their chronic condition and may be more dependent upon the adults in their lives for care. The goal of our transition program is to prepare these adolescents, young adults, and caretakers for a successful transfer to adult care. Completing our transition program helps your child achieve health empowerment and optimizes their independence to provide self-care to the best of their ability.

Our program has a greater than 95% 3-year survival rate, with an average of 10 heart transplants each year. The team has also completed several multi-organ transplants including combined heart-liver and combined heart-kidney. we are continually assessing and analyzing to improve care for your child.

Outcomes data
US News and World Report Cardiology

Recognition and accreditation

Our hospital has long been recognized for excellence in heart transplant and heart care, including the following honors:

  • Pediatric Transplant Committee Member - United Network for Organ Sharing
  • Medal of Honor - U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration's National Collaborative on Organ Donation and Transplantation
  • Optum Center of Excellence
  • Recognized by U.S. News & World Report as a Best Children's Hospital 2024-2025 for cardiology & heart surgery
  • Pediatric Heart Transplant Society Registry Vanguard Center Award
  • Named a Center of Care by the Children's Cardiomyopathy Foundation

What to expect

Although every child’s health journey is personal, we want you to be familiar with our heart transplant process.

As part of the evaluation for heart transplant, our team of experts will assess whether heart transplantation is a good fit for your child. They will also consider alternatives to a transplant and help you decide the approach that is best for your child and your family.
Our team will perform all the diagnostic tests required—including blood and urine tests, echocardiogram, ECG, EKG and, if necessary, heart biopsy. In addition, our social worker and child life specialist will help make sure your entire family is prepared and able to participate in your child’s recovery.

Once we have determined that heart transplant is a good fit for your child, they will be placed on a waiting list with the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) for a donor heart. Your child is prioritized based on medical urgency and the wait can vary from a matter of days to several months to years. Once a suitable heart is available, your transplant coordinator will notify you and begin the matching process.

The heart transplant surgery itself takes between four and six hours. During the transplant, our team of experts place your child on heart bypass to supply oxygen to the organs. With your child safely on heart and lung support and under the watch of a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist, we remove the damaged organ and attach the new heart. Once everything is connected, we remove your child from bypass. Our team will keep you updated on your child’s progress throughout the procedure.

Post-surgery, your child will be moved to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) where they will receive the care they need towards recovery. Before your child is discharged, a transplant coordinator will work with you and our transplant team to make sure you know everything you need to obtain the best care. We’ll provide you with a detailed follow-up care plan for the months and years ahead. Know that our team is available 24/7 to answer your questions.