[MUSIC PLAYING]
REBECCA AMEDURI: There is such a long-standing history of transplant programs here at Mayo Clinic. It's helpful that we have such a successful adult heart transplant program to piggyback off of. And we can have access to the latest technology.
ELIZABETH STEPHENS: We're at Children's Hospital within a large adult hospital. We at Mayo have a lot of resources that aren't commonly available.
One of the new technologies that first was being used in adult transplant, called OCS, which is basically a system that helps support the donor heart. That means we can take hearts from farther away. We don't have to worry as much about the length of time they're outside of the body. And so we're using those on pediatric patients. And that's a huge new benefit.
REBECCA AMEDURI: In addition, we've had changes to our immunosuppressive medications and regimens that we use after transplant to try and improve outcomes with lower rates of rejection and side effects.
ELIZABETH STEPHENS: One of the real benefits of Mayo is the multidisciplinary care. So for providers who are looking to refer a patient, we're able to provide expertise across these specialties that you really need for a heart transplant.
REBECCA AMEDURI: Many of the children that have congenital heart disease or heart failure and are on that transplant pathway have problems with other organ systems. So we can facilitate getting them into all of the other providers that they may need to see.
ELIZABETH STEPHENS: We prioritize getting through referrals quickly, getting all your imaging and discussing them as a group. We want to make sure that if we're bringing a patient here for a consultation, we're in agreement that that's the next best step.
One of the things that we run into is the referral occurs too late, and then we're not able to offer the same support.
REBECCA AMEDURI: The earlier that we can meet families that might need transplant, the better.
ELIZABETH STEPHENS: Just because you reach out doesn't mean that we're going to recommend transplant right away or that we're going to ask the family to come to Rochester right away. If we don't feel like the patient needs to physically come to Rochester yet, but we need to talk through some things or next steps, we can do virtual consults, phone consults, and then, of course, the in-person evaluation.
REBECCA AMEDURI: We really feel like that referring provider is going to be the first eyes and ears on that patient. And we want them to have comfort level in managing those patients. We want to make ourselves fully available and have excellent communication with our referring providers in order to ensure the best outcome for the patient.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
