Pediatric heart transplant is among the most challenging of procedures to address congenital heart defect repair, requiring intraoperative knowledge, ingenuity and quick thinking. Having the right technology in the surgical toolbox supports those high-level decisions in the operating room. 

More than 4,500 heart transplants were performed in the United States in 2023 and about 14 percent of those were performed on pediatric patients. Measuring flow is important for heart transplant surgeries for all ages, but particularly so for children and babies. 

And that requires specialized tools that fit these smaller patients.

Measuring Flow for Pediatric Heart Transplant

The ultimate goal of pediatric heart transplant surgery is to create flow so oxygenated blood can pass through the heart and lungs to the rest of the circulatory system. 

Having qualitative data about flow confirms the success of the procedure and, if needed, allows the surgical team to perform any revisions on-the-spot. 

This is true for any type of pediatric congenital heart defect repair surgery, whether that’s a heart transplant or minimally-invasive heart surgery. But transplant surgeries add a layer of complexity to an already complex situation. 

Let’s consider a heart transplant from an older pediatric donor to a younger recipient. In this case, this larger-than-ideal muscle may pump blood at a higher rate than a smaller heart would. 

It’s important to know not just how fast the heart is beating, but also how much flow is being delivered. True volume flow measurement provides critical, quantitative data about cardiac output. 

Flow measurement is an incredibly valuable tool in the pediatric cardiac surgeon’s toolbox. 

Smaller Patients, Smaller Tools

When you’re measuring flow during a pediatric heart transplant procedure, not just any flowprobe will do the job. 

Infants and children need tools that fit their smaller sizes – their vessels and arteries are much smaller and tools designed for typical adult cardiac patients fall short. 

At Transonic, we respond to this need for patient-specific flow measurement, offering solutions in sizes to fit any patient. The COnfidence Flowprobes (AU-Series) is available in a range of sizes down to 4 mm, while the Microvascular Flowprobes (MU-Series) goes to 0.7 mm. 

For the smallest of patients, the right tools make all the difference. Learn more about the importance of the tiniest of flowprobes for the tiniest of patients.