Springfield heart center idles transplant program

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- The Prairie Heart Institute's transplant program, expected to perform 15-20 heart transplants a year when it opened five years ago, now sits idle because of improvements in less-invasive treatments.

The heart transplant business is so slow that the institute at St. John's Hospital in Springfield, which performs more heart surgeries than any other hospital in Illinois, is shutting down -- at least temporarily.

Not that doctors there are complaining. "We're so encouraged," said Dr. Stephen Jennison, medical director of the heart failure program at the institute. "In the last 18 months we have not needed to present transplantation as an option to anybody. These are positive and encouraging results."

New drugs, heart monitoring techniques and faster emergency care have cut into the need for transplants, Jennison said. It's a national trend that has seen fewer people on the transplant waiting list over the last three years.

The Prairie Heart Institute has performed nine transplants in five years. It will shut down for a year, then be re-evaluated, Jennison said.

There will be not effect to personnel or budget because the facilities and people used for heart transplants are the same as those used for other heart surgeries. Transplant patients needing follow-up care will continue to be treated at the hospital.

Improvements in heart treatment include beta blocker drugs, in-home monitors allowing for precise medicine dosage, advanced pacemakers and surgery techniques.