What's New

First Lung Transplant at MSCHONY

Joshua R. Sonett, MD

We are proud to announce the first pediatric lung transplant performed entirely at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital. Previously, it was necessary for children to visit the Milstein Hospital Building at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center for the surgery and post-operative care. This milestone was made possible by interdisciplinary collaboration, including the support of the adult lung transplant team, as well as by resources available through the newly opened Laura Rothenberg Bronchoscopy-Endoscopy Center. Thanks to these advances, our pediatric lung patients can now expect the very best care available in the comforting and convenient setting of Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital.

Selection Criteria Expand for Cystic Fibrosis Lung Transplant

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital has taken a leadership role in perfecting techniques and patient selection criteria for lung transplantation in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). As a result, the Hospital is home to the largest CF lung transplant program in New York City. Leveraging this experience, the Hospital has now expanded the program to include patients under the age of 18 years. Although current management strategies reasonably control the disease into adulthood in most pediatric patients, lung transplantation may offer extended survival in pediatric patients with advancing disease who have severe and irreversible airflow obstruction.

The OPTN/UNOS Lung Allocation Score (LAS) System

In 2005, the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and its non-profit funding agency, United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), changed the nation's method of allocating organs to transplant candidates. The new method, involving a scoring system to help determine position on the organ waiting list, replaced an older system allocating organs on a first-come first-serve basis.

Click here to read more.

GER and Lung Transplant Dysfunction/Rejection

Frank D'Ovidio, MD, PhD

Highly effective treatments can successfully protect patients against the threat of the acute form of rejection that occurs immediately after transplant surgery. Yet even the best medical therapies are powerless against the tide of chronic rejection, which slowly and steadily undermines the health of over half of lung transplant patients during the first three- to five years after transplantation. Frank D'Ovidio, MD, PhD, has shed light on the role of gastro-esophageal reflux (GER) as one of the causes of chronic lung transplant dysfunction, and/or chronic rejection.

Columbia Lung Transplant Research Program

The Lung Transplant Program is leading the effort to improve outcomes in life-threatening lung diseases. Our research has contributed to recent advances in the understanding of advanced lung disease and lung transplantation including innovative medical and surgical treatments yielding improved quality-of-life and survival for patients. These achievements have been most notable in the areas of emphysema, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and cystic fibrosis, both before and after lung transplantation.

A Medicare Certified Lung Transplant Program

The NewYork-Presbyterian Lung Transplant Program at Columbia University Medical Center has received Medicare certification for lung transplantation. Medicare covers eligible patients who enter our program for preoperative evaluation, lung transplant surgery and postoperative care.

The Shorin Center for Immediate Care

The Shorin Center for Immediate Care, which opened in January 2006, is an evening and weekend service for lung, heart, liver, and kidney transplant patients. It serves as an urgent care center, enabling transplant patients to avoid the delays of a busy emergency room. The Center is available to transplant patients from 8pm to 8 am, Monday through Friday, and 24 hours on weekends. The Shorin Center for Immediate Care is located on 7 Hudson South, the inpatient transplant unit of the NewYork-Presbyterian Milstein Hospital Building.

Columbia Lung Transplant Program Soon to Join Premier Network

The Lung Transplant program has achieved program specific certification as a member of the Blue Quality Centers for Transplant (BQCT) and will soon be a full participant in the network. In certifying the NYP Lung Transplant Program, BQCT, recognizes the outstanding results achieved by Joshua R. Sonett, MD, Surgical Director, and Selim M. Arcasoy, MD, Medical Director, and their team.

BQCT members are a national network of transplant centers that offer comprehensive services through a coordinated, streamlined referral management. All of the centers in the BQCT network meet specific stringent program and participation criteria that consider not only provider qualifications and program process, but patient outcomes as well.

Institutions are selected for the Blue Quality Centers for Transplant (BQCT) Program based on their ability to meet defined clinical criteria that are unique for each type of transplant. Panels of transplant surgeons and physicians advise the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association on selection criteria, which are updated in response to medical advances.