Sacramento’s First 'Bridge to Transplant' Heart Patient Goes Home     08-09-2007

Ronald Wootten, 32, of Chico didn’t have much hope for a long life. His mother died at the age of 53 from a weakened heart, and the condition apparently was hereditary. Wootten was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy – a deterioration of the heart muscle – and had a clot in his left ventricle. His cardiologist tried to control the disease with medication, but a heart attack worsened the condition.

As a last hope, on June 13, Chico’s Enloe Hospital sent the former landscaper to Sutter Memorial Hospital, where heart transplant surgeons extended his life on June 20 by hooking him up to a ventricular assist device, or VAD, also called a "bridge to transplant." This device takes the place of the heart muscle by pumping the blood. However, Wootten had lost a lot of blood and was in liver and kidney failure and the surgeons didn’t know if he could survive a heart transplant.

But, by the end of July, he was ready. Usually, patients have to wait months for a new organ, but when heart patients are on a VAD, they are given priority and are placed at the top of the transplant list. Wootten received his new heart July 25, and just two weeks later is scheduled to go home.

This was Sacramento’s first "bridge to transplant." In the past, patients were sent to the Bay Area or Los Angeles for a VAD, and then had to receive a heart transplant there. Regular follow-up visits are required, so not only were the surgeries and recuperations far from home, but frequent long-distance travel was required.

Now VAD implantations can be performed in Sacramento, the only heart transplant center in Northern California outside the Bay Area.

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