Duke Health Blog
Stories and news about treatment advances that improve your health and quality of life

Heart Transplant

Learn more about how Duke's heart transplant experts use advanced techniques to care for people with end-stage heart disease who are in need of a heart transplant.

Showing 1 - 12 of 15 results
New Dad Gets Heart and Liver Transplants at Duke
New Dad Gets Heart and Liver Transplants at Duke

Despite being young and active, Stefan Rucker felt sluggish and weak in his early forties. In October 2020, the 16-year veteran police detective was diagnosed ...

Domino Heart Transplant Offers New Opportunities for Children with Congenital Heart Disease
Domino Heart Transplant Offers New Opportunities for Children with Congenital Heart Disease

When three-month-old Asher Hobby needed a heart transplant, his parents eagerly agreed to help to save another life at the same time. In June 2023 at Duke Heal ...

Do I Need a Heart Failure Specialist?
Do I Need a Heart Failure Specialist?

A heart failure specialist is just what you might think -- a doctor who specializes in treating heart failure. But when is the right time to seek out this type ...

Advances at Duke Fast-Track Second Heart Transplant for Charlotte Man
Advances at Duke Fast-Track Second Heart Transplant for Charlotte Man

Thanks to congenital heart disease, Dan Kummer had a heart transplant before he could even legally rent a car. His troubles returned 20 years later when his tr ...

Duke Surgeons First in U.S. to Place New-Generation Artificial Heart
Duke Surgeons First in U.S. to Place New-Generation Artificial Heart

For the first time in the U.S., heart surgeons at Duke University Hospital successfully implanted a new-generation artificial heart as part of a clinical trial ...

Duke Heart Surgeons Perform First Pediatric Heart Transplant of its Kind in the U.S.
Duke Heart Surgeons Perform First Pediatric Heart Transplant of its Kind in the U.S.

Duke surgeons successfully performed the first "donation after circulatory death” (DCD) heart transplant in a pediatric patient in the U.S. The transplant team ...

Mother and Daughter Receive Organ Transplants at Duke One Month Apart
Mother and Daughter Receive Organ Transplants at Duke One Month Apart

Tyra Ingram, 19, of Laurinburg, NC was born with more than one congenital heart defect and needed three major heart surgeries and a pacemaker before she was fi ...

Surgeons Use 3D-Printed Heart Model to Plan Complex Surgery
Surgeons Use 3D-Printed Heart Model to Plan Complex Surgery

Duke cardiologists collaborated with a Duke University technology lab to print a 3D model of a woman’s heart and ribcage to plan her complex heart surgery. Tha ...

Thanks to a Heart Transplant, More Active Future a Possibility
Thanks to a Heart Transplant, More Active Future a Possibility

Asheville, NC resident John Welch had gotten used to sitting on the sidelines. As a child, he was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy -- a disease that ...

Partial Artificial Heart Helps Young Boy Thrive While Waiting for Heart Transplant
Partial Artificial Heart Helps Young Boy Thrive While Waiting for Heart Transplant

Ja’Kye Mason was born with a heart defect that put his life at risk. Medications and several surgeries weren’t enough to keep Ja’Kye’s heart healthy. At only 9 ...

New Options Make It Possible for More People to Receive Heart Transplants
New Options Make It Possible for More People to Receive Heart Transplants

Heart transplantation is the most effective treatment for end-stage heart failure; however, the nationwide shortage of donor hearts may mean a long wait on the ...

Alternatives to Heart Transplant? You Have Options
Alternatives to Heart Transplant? You Have Options

Heart transplantation can be a life-saving treatment for severe heart failure, but it’s a serious operation that requires a lifelong commitment. As a result, a ...