Surgeons at Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt Health performed more than 200 adult and pediatric heart transplants this year — the most of any individual transplant center in the world.
This year, 16 children and more than 185 adults received heart transplants at Vanderbilt, including 29 veterans and 20 patients who underwent multiorgan transplants. The milestone surpasses the health system’s previous world record of 174 transplants, set in 2024.
“We’re tremendously proud to surpass 200,” Kelly Schlendorf, MD, Vanderbilt’s medical director of the adult transplant program and section chief of heart failure and transplantation, said in a Dec. 23 news release. “While this number may sound small, it’s unheard of for a single center until now. More important than the number, however, is what it represents — innovation, courage, incredibly hard work and, most importantly, the patients behind the number and the trust they put in Vanderbilt to care for them.”
