Partial Heart Transplant

A partial heart transplant replaces only the diseased heart valve rather than the entire heart. During surgery, your child’s surgeon removes the abnormal valve and replaces it with a donor heart valve that can function naturally and grow with your child.

This approach can be especially beneficial for infants and young children. Traditional mechanical and bioprosthetic valves do not grow with a child as they grow. As a result, children who receive those valves often require multiple surgeries over time to replace them with larger valves. A transplanted living valve may grow with your child’s heart, which may reduce the number of future open-heart surgeries.

A partial heart transplant may be an option if your child has an abnormal heart valve but otherwise normal heart function. Because only the affected valve is replaced, your child may not need a full heart transplant.

Your child’s care team may consider this procedure for conditions such as:

• Pulmonary valve stenosis
• Aortic valve stenosis
• Truncus arteriosus
• Pulmonary atresia
• Other congenital heart valve abnormalities
• Certain complex congenital heart defects that affect the valves

Our pediatric transplant specialists carefully evaluate each child to determine whether a partial heart transplant or another treatment option is the most appropriate approach.