Columbia University Surgeons Featured in New York Times for Daunting Infant Heart Transplant
CUIMC’s Dr. Maureen McKiernan, with an assist from Dr. Andrew Goldstone, performs surgery on the “ragged edge of what’s possible.”
In case you missed it, on Jan. 1, The New York Times published a powerful and awe-inspiring article featuring Columbia University’s Dr. Maureen McKiernan performing a heart transplant on 6-month-old Luna. As the reporter, Simar Bajaj wrote:
“Every year, doctors in the United States perform about 100 infant heart transplants, an operation on the ragged edge of what’s possible. They remove the heart from one baby whose life has functionally ended, pack it on ice, and then coax it back to life in another. The margin for error comes down to minutes, stitches, and a few fragile millimeters.”
McKiernan is an assistant professor of surgery and an assistant attending surgeon in the Department of Surgery at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC). This was her first heart transplant as the lead surgeon and the first ever in an infant.
Dr. Andrew Goldstone, an assistant professor of surgery who is the incoming chief of congenital and pediatric cardiac surgery at CUIMC, provided assistance during the 6-hour operation.
Bajaj followed McKiernan as she planned and prepared for the operation, capturing on video and in photos the removal of the diseased heart until the new heart began pushing blood through the infant’s body. The operation was a success, and after two months in rehab, Luna went home the week before Christmas.