Read more about our top research and key innovations from 2023:
The First-Ever Infant Domino Partial Heart Transplant
A Promising Approach for Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastases
Innovations in Review 2023
Transplant
Our transplant programs are among the most well established and experienced in the country, and we perform the most transplants nationwide. Physicians from Columbia and Weill Cornell Medicine are pioneering new methods to bridge patients to transplantation, achieve better tolerance, and using organ transplants paired with innovative monitoring technology to eradicate cancer. Patients come to us from across the country and around the world for better outcomes and novel procedures that allow for better access to transplantation and also quicker recovery.
The First-Ever Infant Domino Partial Heart Transplant
In May 2023, an integrated team of cardiologists and heart surgeons at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia performed the first-ever infant domino partial heart transplant in the world, and the first partial heart transplant in a pediatric patient in New York. Two infants born with different heart conditions benefited from this groundbreaking procedure—the first child received a heart transplant from a deceased donor and was also the living donor for the second child’s partial heart transplant. What made the procedure so novel was that while the domino donor’s heart was not strong enough to function normally, the heart valves were a perfect match for the other young patient who was in need of valve surgery. This allowed for the care team to perform what is called a living allogeneic heart valve transplant, demonstrating that a domino partial heart transplant can occur with a living heart donor.
A Promising Approach for Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastases
NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine offers patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases access to a multidisciplinary treatment approach to address their disease. Transplant surgeon Dr. Juan Rocca leads the use of liver transplants to treat colon cancer when it has metastasized to the liver. By terminating the disease in the liver, patients do not have to depend on systemic treatments to control the progression. Dr. Rocca pairs this approach with the use of liquid biopsies, led by oncologist Dr. Pashtoon Kasi, which allows doctors to determine the genetic makeup of cancers quickly, track progress over time, and monitor for recurrence. This unique approach helps significantly prolong patient survival and improve quality of life.
Achieving Better Tolerance in Kidney Transplant
While immunosuppressant medications are required to prevent rejection of a transplanted organ, they can lead to complications and potentially toxic side effects, and must be taken for the rest of a recipient’s life. Dr. Joshua Weiner, a transplant surgeon at NewYork‑Presbyterian/Columbia, is the lead investigator in a study looking into the use of siplizumab, a human anti-CD2 antibody, combined with donor bone marrow in kidney transplant recipients, with the aim of inducing tolerance—the body’s acceptance of the transplanted organ without immunosuppression. Although patients must undergo invasive non-myeloablative conditioning and kidney and bone marrow transplants, the approach has profound long- term advantages. The center enrolled the world’s first patient in this pivotal study in January 2023.
