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Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant

Directed by Tariq Ahmad MD, MPH, FACC, in collaboration with surgical director Arnar Geirsson, MD, the Advanced Heart Failure Program provides a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to caring for patients with end-stage heart failure.

Heart Transplantation

Since 2018, the cardiac transplant program has performed on par with any other top program in the country. More patients are receiving their heart transplants at Yale than at any time in the past, and we are as busy, if not busier, than any other cardiac transplant program in New England. In addition to performing a large number of heart transplants, our program has worked to expand access to donations through methods such as “donation after cardiovascular death,” the use of Hepatitis C NAT+ donors, and through desensitization efforts of patients highly sensitized to potential donor antigens. Our group is active in outcomes research in this population as well.

Left Ventricular Assist Device Implantation

Our center routinely implants left ventricular assist devices not only for patients ineligible for heart transplantation as part of destination therapy, but also as a bridge-to-transplant or bridge-to-decision. At any given time, we follow just under fifty patients in the community whom are benefiting from this technology. While we currently implant the HeartMate 3 LVAD, we also continue to follow patients with HeartMate 2 LVAD’s and Heartware HVAD’s in place. Like the practice of heart transplantation, outcomes research for these patients is also a focus of the group.

Fellowship Training Program

Directed by Josephine Chou-Catanzaro, MD, MS, our faculty support the ACGME accredited training of two aspiring advanced heart failure and transplant cardiologists each academic year. Our fellows train in a high-volume transplant program with significant patient exposure in all phases of the transplant process. Additionally, the management of complicated cardiogenic shock, left ventricular assist devices and rare forms of cardiomyopathy are passed down from faculty to fellow.

Comprehensive Heart Failure Program

Led by the interim director Tariq Ahmad MD, MPH, FACC, the Comprehensive Heart Failure Program comprises of a number of out-patient and in-patient initiatives dedicated to producing high quality outcomes for all types of heart failure patients.

The Heart Failure Population Health Program is a clinical care network which extends across the Connecticut shoreline, from Greenwich in the west to New London in the east. Our group utilizes a variety of technologies for monitoring the health of our heart failure patients in the community, and we have several Heart Failure Disease Management clinics open to drive the medical care of patients with newly diagnosed heart failure or recent hospital admissions.

Directed by Daniel Jacoby, MD, the Inherited Cardiomyopathy Program includes clinics staffed with clinicians whom are experts in diseases such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy. Cardiomyopathy clinics which focus on acquired disease such as cardiac sarcoidosis and cardiac amyloidosis also exist. Finally, directed by Robert Elder, MD, the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program acts as a clinical care bridge for the pediatric patient with heart disease as they age and mature into adulthood.


Heart Failure Research

Directed by Jeffrey Testani, MD, MTR, members of our group are active in many forms investigational scientific and clinical research. Areas of interest include diuretic therapies - not only loop diuretics but also SGLT-2 inhibitors, digital tools to assess heart failure population risk and predicted patient outcomes, new medical therapies for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and TTR cardiac amyloidosis, as well as endeavors to expand the heart transplant donor pool. Our investigators also have the opportunity to partner with the immense talent available through the Yale School of Medicine’s Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE) and the Yale Cardiovascular Research Group.

Publications

2022

Faculty

Yale Advanced Heart Failure Program

Official Facebook Account of the Yale Advanced Heart Failure Program: Dedicated To Improving the Lives of Patients with Heart Transplants + LVADs and Advancing the Field.