Teen Receives Life-Saving Rare Heart-Liver Transplant at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin

Market Watch


MILWAUKEE, April 24, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Children's Hospital of Wisconsin recently performed a rare double organ transplant to save the life of Thomas Castillo, a 15-year-old Illinois boy with complex congenital heart disease and liver failure.

A multidisciplinary team at Children's Hospital replaced Castillo's two organs during a 17-hour surgery. James Tweddell, MD, cardiothoracic surgeon, performed the heart transplantation. David Cronin, MD, PhD, FACS, abdominal transplant surgeon, performed the liver transplantation.

This is the first heart-liver transplant performed on a child, birth to age 17, in Wisconsin and only the 10th ever performed on a child in the U.S. Multiple organ transplants are tracked by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, where the most current data lists transplants performed Jan. 1, 1988, through Jan. 31, 2012.

"Not only are we transplanting more patients than ever before, but data shows survival rates of our patients are among the highest in the nation," said Steve Zangwill, MD, program director of Pediatric Heart Failure and Heart Transplantation and a pediatric cardiologist at Children's Hospital's Herma Heart Center. Children's Hospital is ranked No. 6 in the nation for pediatric heart transplant volume in 2010, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.
Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/teen-receives-life-saving-rare-heart-liver-transplant-at-childrens-hospital-of-wisconsin-2012-04-24

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