Newcastle’s Cardiopulmonary Transplant Service was established over 30 years ago at the Freeman Hospital.
We performed our first heart transplant in 1985 and our first lung transplant in 1987. We have since performed almost 800 heart transplants, including over 140 in children, and over 600 lung or heart and lung transplants.
Over the last 3 years we have performed more cardiopulmonary transplants than anywhere else in the UK and we are widely regarded as the premier lung transplant service in the country.
Our service is built around a dedicated and highly experienced team drawn from a wide range of experts, including:
- cardiothoracic surgeons,
- cardiologists,
- respiratory physicians and anaesthetists,
- transplant coordinators,
- specially trained nurses, physiotherapists and social workers.
Working in close co-operation, this multidisciplinary team manages all aspects of patient care from initial assessment of potential transplant patients through to the long term post-transplant care required.
Transplant candidates
We will always explore alternative medical and surgical treatments before recommending transplantation.
Patients referred for transplant assessment generally have one of the following conditions:
End-stage Heart Failure
Patients with severe heart failure due to the following conditions:
- ischaemic heart disease
- cardiomyopathy
- valvular heart disease
- congenital heart disease
The Freeman Hospital is the only transplant centre in the UK to offer heart transplants for adults with complex congenital heart disease.
Life Threatening Lung Diseases
Specific diseases potentially treatable by transplantation include:
- Obstructive Lung Disease (eg. chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD or “smokers lung”), emphysema, alpha 1 anti-trypsin deficiency)
- Suppurative Lung Disease (eg. cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis)
- Diffuse Parenchymal Lung Disease (eg. idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, sarcoidosis, occupational lung fibrosis, connective tissue disease)
- Pulmonary Vascular Disease (eg. idiopathic pulmonary hypertension, chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, Eisenmenger’s syndrome)
- Lymphangioleiomyomatosis
- Langerhans cell histiocytosis
