Heart and lung transplant clinical outcomes

The cardiothoracic transplant service at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) is part of the Cardiorespiratory Clinical Unit, and it runs a comprehensive heart and lung transplantation programme for children and young people with life-threatening diseases.

These include:

• congenital heart disease
• cardiomyopathy
• pulmonary hypertension
• cystic fibrosis
• children’s interstitial lung disease
• other rare diseases

The service at GOSH offers dedicated multi-disciplinary (MDT) care of children and young people. The Team includes specialist cardiothoracic surgeons, lung transplant consultant physicians, heart transplant consultant physicians, transplant clinical nurse specialists, clinician assistants, transplant pharmacists, post-transplant dieticians, post-transplant occupational therapists, post-transplant physiotherapists, psychologists, and social workers.

The team receives referrals from throughout United Kingdom and Ireland. Since the first transplant at GOSH in 1988; 535 Heart, 116 Lung and 84 Heart-Lung transplants have been completed, making us one of the biggest paediatric cardiothoracic transplant centres worldwide. Each year, GOSH carries out approximately 20 heart and 5-6 lung transplants, and we have exceptional outcomes compared to national and international data on heart and lung transplant.

The following graphs show the transplant activity and waiting list at GOSH in the last ten years:

The chart shows how many children (aged 0-18) were on the heart and lung waiting lists on 31 March each year (Fig.2) . Numbers of children on the list go up and down, but generally we have between 20 and 30 children on the heart list at GOSH, and around 10 on the lung list.

Over 95% of patients who undergo heart or lung transplant at GOSH will survive the first year. Most of our patients go back to school within three months of the operation and have an excellent quality of life. We have dedicated weekly clinics for transplant patients and continue to see them until they transition into adult care between their 16th and 18th birthdays.

Details about specific transplant outcomes (heart and lung) in the UK can be found at NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), the organisation that oversees organ donation and transplantation in the UK.

More information about organ transplantation can be found at NHSBT. Please note most of the information on this website is written for adults so your consultant will discuss with you for more specific information about your child’s care.

This information was published in October 2024.