Rare HUP procedure saves life

Terry Rivers has a new lease on life -- thanks to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Although she was near death two weeks ago, the 39-year-old Philadelphia resident received a heart and liver transplant that saved her life. She will be released from the hospital later this week. And HUP officials are thankful, as well, since HUP became one of a select number of hospitals to have performed the rare surgery. Not only was HUP the site of the first dual heart-liver transplant in the Delaware Valley, but Rivers' surgery was one of only 12 such operations to have taken place nationally. HUP surgeon and heart transplant program head Michael Acker -- who was one of the two doctors leading the operation -- said "[Rivers is] doing well," noting that recovering from the procedure is " a gradual process." Acker added that Rivers is expected to regain her strength relatively quickly, and should be back on her feet within few weeks of being released from the hospital. To be eligible for organ transplant, Rivers had to submit her case to a panel of experts. Because organs are extremely rare, the number of people waiting to receive even one organ typically exceeds the number of potential donors. But the panel approved Rivers' surgery after concluding that she would have a good chance of surviving the operation. "We decided that she was a good candidate because she is young, had a problem that can be solved by transplantation of both organs and we estimated that she would do well and recover," HUP surgeon and liver transplant program head Abraham Shaked explained. Rivers had been placed on both the heart and liver transplant waiting lists in early January. Organ donation rules mandate that a patient in need of more than one organ automatically receives the transplants when his or her name reaches the top of any of the waiting lists. Rivers' name reached the top of the liver transplant list in the middle of February, clearing the way for the surgery. Shaked and Acker jointly performed the complex, eight-hour operation. They began the procedure by placing Rivers' heart on bypass and transplanting the donated heart. The doctors transplanted the new liver after checking that Rivers was strong enough to proceed with the operation. Acker explained that "the difficulty of the operation is the stress placed on the new heart that's just been transplanted by the big liver transplant." But apart saving Rivers' life, the surgery represents regional acknowledgement of HUP's predominance in dual heart-liver transplants. "We are good," Shaked said. "We are outstanding? We are very experienced with both procedures." Acker agreed, noting that "of all the hospitals in Philadelphia that do transplants, we're the only one with very mature programs in both liver and heart transplantation."