For the heart transplant team at Johns Hopkins Medicine, 2024 was a record-breaking year: The multidisciplinary team performed 65 adult heart transplants at The Johns Hopkins Hospital — surpassing the hospital’s prior record of 27 in a single year and more than doubling 2023’s total. This achievement highlights the dedication and expertise of the team, as well as advancements in medical technology and patient care.

“Our program’s record volumes and outstanding outcomes from this year are the result of the expertise and tremendous dedication of our multidisciplinary teams over the past five years to grow our program and to provide the best in advanced heart failure care to our patients,” says Kavita Sharma, director of heart failure and cardiac transplantation. “We have accomplished these milestones by expanding our reach — through the addition of two transplant surgeons and by widening our transplant recipient criteria and many of our donor organ criteria.”

Two new transplant surgeons joined Ahmet Kilic in early 2024, Chetan Pasrija and Antonio Polanco, who bring state-of-the-art expertise in higher-risk recipient and donor selection.

Kilic notes that the team’s achievement is about more than just record numbers.

“We can’t overemphasize how difficult it is to push boundaries and offer lifesaving surgeries to the sickest patients while maintaining outstanding outcomes. The complementary strengths of the Hopkins transplant team have allowed for cutting-edge techniques to provide the best, modernized and innovative care for as many patients as possible,” says Kilic. “In fact, each patient we’ve had the privilege of taking care of in the past year has gotten individualized, patient-first, team-oriented care. That attention to detail is what has made this a truly remarkable program.” 

Key Highlights of 2024:

• Record-breaking transplants: Through Dec. 30, 2024, the Johns Hopkins team performed 65 heart transplants, including seven dual-organ transplants, setting a new benchmark for the program.
• Leading transplant program: Johns Hopkins Medicine is the leading transplant program in the United Network for Organ Sharing Region 2, and it ranks among the top 20 heart transplant programs in the United States for number of transplants performed.
• Innovative device placement: The team set a Johns Hopkins and regional record for percutaneous ventricular assist device placements (over 100), which provide temporary mechanical support for patients in shock.
• ECMO: The team performed a record number of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation procedures (over 100), showcasing the team’s capability in managing complex conditions.
• DCD heart transplants: The team performed the first donation after circulatory death (DCD) heart transplant in Maryland and achieved the highest number of DCD heart transplants in the region.
• Reduced waitlist time:The team reduced the average waitlist time for patients awaiting heart transplant by more than half, demonstrating effective new strategies for donor selection and time to transplant.

Clinicians credit the growth and success of the multidisciplinary program to the many teams essential to the care of patients who receive heart transplants, including the transplant nurse coordinators, heart failure cardiologists, the cardiac and surgical critical care and surgical floor teams, and the ancillary teams — such as social work, pharmacy, infectious diseases and nephrology — that support patients before and after transplantation.