Texas Children's discharges history-making patient

The wait is over for 16-year-old Francesco 'Frank' De Santiago. On January 29, De Santiago received a donor heart in a nine-hour transplant operation at Texas Children's Heart Centre De Santiago made news last October as the first child ever discharged from a paediatric hospital with an implanted mechanical heart pump, or ventricular assist device (VAD). Until then, paediatric patients with VADs remained in the hospital, often in ICU, while awaiting a donor heart...

Read the whole article on

More from