The Willis-Knighton/LSU Health Sciences Center is halting heart transplants at its Regional Heart Transplant Center until it fills the position of Dr. Mary Mancini, the center's only heart transplant surgeon.
Until then, the nearest heart transplant facilities for the 84 patients on the waiting list are in New Orleans and Dallas.
When the local program restarts, officials hope it will be with a larger staff of two heart surgeons and a transplant cardiologist.
"The number of physicians will definitely expand. That's the key part of this," Dr. Richard Turnage, a professor and chairman of the surgery department at LSUHSC, said this week. "What we want to do is expand this so that it does not just fall on the shoulders of one individual, that there are multiple physicians. ... We're very fortunate that we've recruited an individual who is training in cardiac transplantation at Duke right now. He's been offered a job here as a heart surgeon and is starting in February."
Whether the additional staff will translate into the need for more space remains to be seen, Willis-Knighton spokesman Charlie Cavell said. "It's too early to tell. We've got to get the program restarted. That's the main focus right now."
Tuesday's announcement does not affect kidney, liver and pancreatic transplantation. Hospital staff members are working with heart patients who want to be transferred to other programs. Pre-and post-surgery heart patients also will continue to receive care.
Mancini is retiring from transplantation to pursue more open-heart surgery and work with lung cancer patients, Turnage said.
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Information from: The Times-Picayune, http:// WWW.TIMESPICAYUNE.COM
