2020 UAB Cardiovascular Institute Annual Report CVI Annual Report 2019-2020 6 | Page 20

UAB Medicine’s internationally renowned clinical and research heart failure program offers life-improving
and life-saving solutions for patients with heart failure and pulmonary hypertension, and it provides the most
comprehensive care available in Alabama. UAB earned a high-performing condition recognition for heart failure in
the U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) hospital rankings for 2019. HEART (SINCE 1981) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,023
Avenues of clinical work and advanced treatment options include new medical and device therapies, an extensive
mechanical circulatory support (MCS) program, and a heart/heart-lung transplantation program. LUNG (SINCE 1989). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677
COMBINED HEART/LUNG. . . . . . . . . . 42
HIGHLIGHTS
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
• Robust basic and translational research examining mechanisms and modulation of inflammation in heart failure
• Increasing the safety and efficacy of treatments for pulmonary hypertension through the discovery and
development of medication therapies and delivery systems
• Identifying early detection methods for heart failure and treatment methods that decrease recurrent CHF
hospitalizations
• Testing biological treatments of heart failure through the use of intra-cardiac stem cell therapy
2017 FDA-approved implantable system for administration of Remodulin for the treatment of pulmonary
hypertension (commercial launch soon to occur); Robert Bourge, MD, was the national PI for the clinical trial.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
• Ambardekar AV, Kittleson MM, Palardy M,
Mountis MM, Forde-McLean RC, DeVore AD,
Pamboukian SV, Thibodeau JT, Teuteberg
JJ, Cadaret L, Xie R, Taddei-Peters W, Naftel
DC, Kirklin JK, Stevenson LW, Stewart GC.
Outcomes with ambulatory advanced heart
failure from the Medical Arm of Mechanically
Assisted Circulatory Support (MedaMACS)
Registry. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2019
Apr;38(4):408-417. PMID: 30948210
• Orozco-Hernandez EJ, Argueta-Sosa
EE, Mauchley D, Xie R, Mitchell CB,
Self DM, Davies JE. Left ventricular
myxoma: A contractile mass causing
intracavitary obstruction and severe
pulmonary hypertension. J Card Surg 2019
Oct:,34(10):1127-1129. Doi: 10.1111/jocs. 14195.
Epub 2019 Aug 2. PMID: 31374579
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COMBINED HEART/KIDNEY. . . . . . . . 35
• USNWR “High-Performing” condition recognition for heart failure
• The pulmonary hypertension clinic, established in 1989, is one of the most active clinical and research programs
in the world
• UAB is the only medical center in Alabama to offer advanced heart failure therapies, such as heart and lung
transplantation and durable mechanical circulatory support
• Advanced heart failure/heart transplant Vizient observed-to-expected (O/E) mortality ratio for 2017 through
September 2019 of 0.86 is below the Vizient benchmark of 1.0
UAB Cardiovascular Institute Annual Report
VIZIENT ADVANCED HEART FAILURE / HEART
TRANSPLANT, O/E CY 2017 – CYTD 2019
HEART/LUNG/LIVER/KIDNEY. . . . . . . . . 3
Since the inception of the cardiac transplant program in 1981, the UAB transplant team has performed over 1,700
heart, lung, and combined thoracic transplant procedures. Among the program’s historical strengths are:
• Largest series of lung transplants for thoracic malignancy
• Thoracic transplant for patients with HIV
• Early adoption of the total artificial heart as a bridge to transplantation
• Integrated artificial lung and ECMO program for long-term ambulatory support in patients with respiratory failure
• Use of combined heart-lung transplant in patients with both end-stage cardiac and lung disease
HEART FAILURE & PULMONARY HYPERTENSION
THORACIC TRANSPLANTATION &
MECHANICAL CIRCULATORY SUPPORT
HEART
When a transplant is needed, current outcomes are excellent, with one- and three-year patient survival rates that
are better than the expected rates and U.S. average.
ADULT AND PEDIATRIC HEART TRANSPLANTS
2012-2018
HEART TRANSPLANT
1-YEAR PATIENT SURVIVAL
uabmedicine.org
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