Learn more about Lutheran's heart transplant program

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Lutheran Hospital's Heart Transplant Program Fast Facts:

* Transplant #1: July 20, 1985

* Transplant #266: July 9, 2010

* The first patient transplanted lived for four years

* The second transplant patient lived nearly 18 years after transplantation

* There is one patient who is about to reach 23 years post transplant

* In 1985, Lutheran was one of fewer than 50 heart transplant programs

* Lutheran's heart transplant program is still the only one in northeast Indiana and the only program within 120 miles in any direction from Fort Wayne

* 56 of the first 100 recipients lived longer than ten years after transplant

* The one-year survival rate is 81 percent

* The three-year survival rate is 76 percent

* The median time on the heart waiting list at Lutheran is four months

* First artificial heart in area: 1987

* First heart-lung transplant in area: 1989

* Heart transplant in patient older than 70 (world first): 1990

* Transplant of heart from donor older than 55 (world first): 1990

* Patient goes home with ventricular assist device or "partial artificial heart" (state first): 1999

* One of 30 Heart Hope Centers in the country and first in the state to become FDA-approved to implement HeartMate destination therapy for heart failure patients: 2003

Information provided by Lutheran Hospital