The University of Kentucky is setting records when it comes to heart transplants.
Surgeons at the University of Kentucky Transplant Center have just transplanted their 38th heart into an adult patient this year, making it the most performed by a Kentucky medical center in a single year. Dr. Navin Rajagopalan is the Medical Director of Heart Transplantation and has been at UK since 2009. “At the time of my recruitment there was a push to really grow and expand the transplant program so that Kentuckians could get care closer to home and didn’t have to leave the state or travel elsewhere to receive the care that they needed should they require a heart transplant”
Dr. Rajagopalan tells us they are fulfilling that mission. Patients are coming from across the bluegrass and surrounding states, patients that are being turned away by other transplant teams. Here’s the reason. “We have a solid team where we have surgeons and Cardiologists working very closely together. We have very few barriers to get patients into our system. If a doctor calls me or one of my partners and says I need a patient send and seen within a day we’re able to provide that service. I know at other hospitals that’s often not the case. Sometimes we have residents who are still trying to get Medicaid insurance and while they’re still waiting to get approval we will see them. Other hospitals will not see patients until they have active Medicaid or active insurance”
UK’s Transplant Center isn’t just becoming known for setting records for performing surgeries. A bi-yearly report that shows how patients do in recovery also puts Kentucky near the top of the list. The survival rate for heart transplant patients is 91% which is above the national average.