One of the Top 10 Heart Transplant Programs in the Nation
The RWJBarnabas Health Heart Failure and Transplant program is the most experienced and comprehensive program in New Jersey and is one of the top 10 heart transplant programs in the nation by volume. It has been at the forefront of highly specialized care for more than thirty years and is the site of the first heart transplant in New Jersey and has celebrated more than 1,300 hearts transplanted. Our cardiac surgeons and heart specialists' expertise has made RWJBarnabas Health a regional and national training center for physicians, nurses and emergency services technicians.
Choose RWJBarnabas Health for Heart Transplant
Our heart transplant program survival rates consistently meet or exceed national benchmarks. Our centers are at the forefront of improving the quality of life for transplant candidates and recipients, as well as increasing access to transplant. Our unique work in establishing successful protocols for discontinuing steroid medications for immunosuppression is improving the medical management and survival rates for transplant recipients worldwide. Noninvasive gene expression testing offers an alternative technique for assessing immunosuppression and predicting rejection. Our centers are also part of groundbreaking research that is exploring innovating methods for preserving donor organs for transplant.
For those patients awaiting a transplant or receiving long-term therapy, another option may be a ventricular assist device (VAD). VADs are commonly used as a temporary treatment for people waiting for a heart transplant who are not currently eligible for a heart transplant because of other medical conditions, who have heart failure and must wait until their hearts are healthy enough to pump blood on their own again, or who have heart failure but aren’t good candidates for a heart transplant.
Patient Stories
Complete Transplant Care
The RWJBarnabas Health Heart Centers provide progressive heart failure management that optimizes the patient's transition to home and empowers them to improve their heart health. Advanced practice nurses contact patients within days of discharge and facilitate daily medical monitoring, education, and counseling. Patient-centered programs bring together all the medical resources necessary to combat heart failure and the reduction in hospital readmission rates has been significant. Heart failure clinics are based at all RWJBarnabas Health hospitals.
Clinical trials provide patients with access for breakthrough medications, devices, and therapies, while being continually monitored and evaluated. Our participation in new cardiac stem cell research for patients with refractory angina and chronic myocardial ischemia may someday help the heart heal itself. Improved technology has made positive outcomes with ECMO more likely both at our center and nationally, and has resulted in increased referrals for this critical care.