Duke Completes 1,500th Heart Transplant

Photo above: Drs. Jacob Schroder and Carmelo Milano transplant the first donation after circulatory death (DCD) heart in the United States.

In the midst of the pandemic, Duke University Hospital completed its 1,500th heart transplant in October 2020, a milestone achieved by only five other transplant centers nationwide. Surgeons performed the first heart transplant at Duke in 1985, and the hospital recorded its 1,000th heart transplant in 2014.

"It’s taken us six years to accomplish the next milestone, which we think is of significance," says Dr. Chet Patel, Duke's medical director for heart transplants.