Two weeks ago, OHSU Hospital performed its first heart transplant operation since 2018, marking a return of the state’s only program.

The life-extending transplant came at a time when nearly all of OHSU’s services are on pause to shift focus to coronavirus response. The federal government has told hospitals to continue with transplant surgeries using organs from donors who have died.

So a 68-year-old man from Oregon became OHSU’s first patient to receive a new heart after the program lost all of its cardiologists in spring and summer 2018.

OHSU did not disclose any other details about the patient, but released a statement from him.

“I can’t believe how beautifully my new heart is working and how far I’ve come,” said the heart transplant recipient. “I want to congratulate the doctors for how good of a job they’ve done. It’s fantastic.”

Johannes Steiner, the transplant cardiologist OHSU hired in August 2019 to restart the program, said that the heart transplant team is happy with the results of the first transplant. Junior cardiologists Nalini Colaco and Luke Masha were hired shortly before Steiner, but an experienced cardiologist is needed to win approval from the national organ transplant authority.

Steiner is OHSU’s only senior transplant cardiologist until April 13 when Deborah Meyers will take over as head of the transplant program.

Meyers directed heart failure programs at Salinas Valley Medical Center in Salinas, California, and Texas Heart Institute at Baylor University in Houston.

The hospital had to rebuild the program nearly from scratch when five cardiologists and a transplant surgeon quit, and the state’s only heart transplant program was put on hold in August 2018.

The departures followed a rash of patient deaths in 2017, placing OHSU’s program as among the worst places in the U.S. to receive a heart transplant.

OHSU President Danny Jacobs committed to restarting the program and heavily recruited to replace the cardiologists who left.

The program finally reactivated in August 2019, days before a federal deadline that would have required OHSU to go through a lengthy recertification process.

The transplant program has also successfully implanted three ventricular assist devices -- electromechanical heart pumps -- without complications in the last year, according to OHSU.

Jacobs said that the delay between reactivation and the first transplant is due to ensuring the team was ready and that a matching patient and donor lined up at the right time.

“Why did it take so long? I think being able to do this a year and a half later is extraordinary,” Jacobs said.

He plans to hire two more cardiologists. He said that he is looking for people who bring new expertise or multi-disciplinary skills to the program.

“We want someone who understands version 2.0, 3.0 to make the program even better than when it started,” Jacobs said.

Providence Health in Portland also planned to start a rival heart transplant program after absorbing all of OHSU’s patients and some of its staff. The hospital also earned a large donation from Nike founder Phil Knight and his wife, Penny. Providence has put those plans on hold during COVID-19.

Jacobs said that as long as the federal government doesn’t change its guidance, OHSU is prepared to continue performing heart transplant and other life-saving procedures during COVID-19. They are monitoring personal protective equipment daily to make sure there is enough in case of emergency operations, he said.

He hopes the next one won’t be in another year. There are five people on Oregon’s heart transplant list currently.

-- Molly Harbarger

mharbarger@oregonian.com | 503-294-5923 | @MollyHarbarger

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