The Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Program at Wake Forest Baptist Health is the region’s only comprehensive multidisciplinary heart transplant program. The VAD/transplant program is certified by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and The Joint Commission. Our heart transplant survival is 100% at one year, the best in the state of North Carolina for the last six years. Our long term outcomes meet and/or exceed the national average.
We offer transplant and other advanced heart failure therapies, including durable and nondurable mechanical support, high risk coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and valve surgery.
Our program closely interfaces with cardiothoracic surgery, interventional cardiology, as part of our structural heart program; critical care medicine in the management of ECMO and post operative patients; and electrophysiology in the management of high risk arrhythmia and ablation patients and palliative care. The team consists of five advanced heart failure physicians, all board certified or board eligible and three advanced practice providers, dedicated to the inpatient and outpatient management of advanced heart failure. In addition, we have three dedicated VAD/transplant coordinators, pharmacy, social work, financial and dietary support. We closely collaborate with colleagues in the HLA/Immunogenetics Laboratory and pathology for focused review of endomyocardial biopsies.
We also offer subspecialty clinics in pulmonary hypertension, amyloidosis and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) beginning September 2020.
We are involved in clinical trials dedicated to heart failure (reduced and preserved EF), myocardial recovery, sleep apnea and interventional procedures.
We offer training courses in Acute Heart Failure Advanced Life Support (AHFALS), an international collaborative effort.
We are dedicated to the education of our medical students, residents and cardiology fellows. We have ongoing quality initiatives, in compliance with CMS and The Joint Commission, to ensure superior outcomes in our VAD and transplant recipients.