Fifty heart transplants in Gdańsk

30.01.2018

Piotr Siondalski M.D. Ph.D.

On January 26, Poland celebrated the Day of Transplantation. The date is not accidental, because it is the anniversary of the first successful kidney transplant that took place in 1966 at the Medical Academy in Warsaw. In the MUG’s Department of Cardiac and Vascular Surgery headed by prof. Jan Rogowski 50 heart transplants were performed so far.

The heart transplantation programme and mechanical support therapy have been implemented since 2001, when Piotr Siondalski M.D. Ph.D. together with a team of cardioanesthesiologists and cardiac surgeons from the MUG and the Institute of Cardiology in Anin, Poland, performed the first implantation of mechanical circulatory support, and in 2006 he performed the first heart transplant in the Pomeranian region.

Since then, 50 heart transplants have been performed in Gdańsk and over 70 mechanical implantations of devices saving patients with inefficient circulatory system.

The team that implements the heart transplant programme consists of such surgeons as Piotr Siondalski M.D. Ph.D., Paweł Żelechowski M.D. Ph.D., Magdalena Kołaczkowska M.D. Ph.D., Maciej Duda M.D., Jacek Wojarski M.D. Ph.D., Wojciech Karolak M.D., as well as cardioanesthesiologists under the supervision of prof. Romuald Lango M.D. Ph.D., nurses, instrumentarians and perfusionists.

Diagnostics and qualification for the treatment of mechanical cardiac support and heart transplantation, as well as long-term care is possible thanks to the excellent cooperation with the MUG’s First Department of Cardiology, which is conducted by prof. Marcin Gruchała M.D. Ph.D. Weekly cardiology and cardiosurgical consortia make possible to achieve the best care for patients with extreme heart failure and find solution in extremely difficult medical situations. Unfortunately, the nationwide problem is the organ donation deficit, which also affects our region.

Current needs and challenges make it necessary to develop transplantology in Gdańsk in the field of simultaneous heart and kidney transplants, heart and lung transplants, as well as lung transplants.