OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital provides the most advanced care in Oregon and southwest Washington for children with transplanted hearts. We partner closely with top transplant centers and provide expert care before and after a heart transplant.

Our program includes:

• Designation as a Center of Excellence for lifesaving heart and lung support (ECMO).
• Partnerships with Stanford Children’s Health and Seattle Children’s Hospital for transplants and placement of heart assist devices.
• The region’s only team of pediatric heart specialists dedicated to post-transplant care. This helps children come home sooner, with proper monitoring.

What makes our program different

Doernbecher has the largest and most experienced team of children’s heart specialists in Oregon and southwest Washington. Our team-based approach means we work with experts across OHSU to give your child the best possible care, before and after a heart transplant.

Dr. Laurie Armsby, a specialist with advanced training in children’s heart conditions, cares for patients after heart transplantation. She completed advanced training as an interventional cardiologist. She spent more than a decade of her career at Boston Children’s Hospital, a top heart transplant center.

Dr. Armsby works closely with physician assistant Ali Lyman, who also has years of experience caring for children after heart transplantation.

Your child’s heart care team may also include:

• Children’s heart doctors (pediatric cardiologists)
• Children’s heart surgeons
• Critical-care doctors
• Nurses
• Physician associates (formerly called physician assistants)
• Imaging specialists (radiologists)
• Dietitians
• Social workers and psychologists
• Physical and occupational therapists

Care before and after a heart transplant

Your child’s care may include:

Medications: Certain medications can help your child’s heart beat more strongly and efficiently.

Intensive care: Our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) provides expert critical care for children with severe heart failure or a transplanted heart.

Heart catheterization: Our catheterization specialists and electrophysiologists are experts in using this minimally invasive option to:

• Evaluate a transplanted heart by measuring the pressure and blood flow in the heart and lungs.
• Repair some defects and arrhythmias that can lead to heart failure.
• Obtain biopsies (removing a small tissue sample) to make sure a transplanted heart is working well.

Surgery: Our two children’s heart surgeons often work together in the operating room, sharing expertise to give your child the best possible care.

Care after a heart transplant

Doernbecher is the only hospital in Oregon and southwest Washington with a team dedicated to caring for children after a heart transplant.

Our care dovetails with the nationally renowned transplant programs at Stanford Children’s Health and Seattle Children’s Hospital.

• We coordinate care for each child with their transplant teams. Teams from both hospitals communicate often and work extremely well together.
• Stanford doctors visit Doernbecher regularly to follow up on post-transplant care.
• Other follow-up care includes monitoring, nutrition services and our providers’ specialized expertise for these patients.