Having a heart defibrillator go off in your chest feels like being kicked by a horse, say some heart patients. Joseph Benoit hasn''t had that feeling since his heart transplant 10 years ago.
Benoit, 74, of Alton, IL, attended A Heartfelt Celebration Dec. 7 at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, an event marking 20 years of heart transplant at Barnes-Jewish.
More than 100 attended the celebration, which included a candle-lighting ceremony to mark the 20-year anniversary and to honor the organ donors and organ donor families who made the celebration possible.
Benoit''s heart trouble began with his first heart attack at age 43. Two years later, he had bypass surgery. After subsequent heart attacks, he developed cardiomyopathy, a progressive condition in which the heart muscle weakens, working less and less efficiently. Benoit''s heart was working at less than 20 percent pumping efficiency. Normal hearts typically pump at 80 percent or more.
Doctors eventually implanted a defibrillator to shock his heart into a normal rhythm whenever it stopped. Benoit was also told that he would need a heart transplant.
He came to Barnes-Jewish in May 1995 to be evaluated for a transplant, and was admitted to the intensive care unit May 15. On May 18, he was listed for a transplant.
"Towards the end of my wait, my heart was stopping more often," he said. "The defibrillator really got a workout."
On Aug. 4, 1995, a donor heart became available, and Benoit received a transplant.
Just eight days after surgery, he was discharged from the hospital. He was well enough to go out to dinner that night.
Since then he has lived an active life, volunteering at Alton schools, enjoying the arts and traveling – making the most of his second chance at life.
Since 1985, Washington University surgeons have performed more than 500 heart transplants. In that time, improvements in the understanding of caring for transplant patients and improvement in immune suppression therapy have resulted in a steady improvement in the survival rates and long-term quality of life for heart transplant patients.
Because of the chronic shortage of donor organs for those in need of transplants, the Barnes-Jewish heart failure specialists have developed strategies for patients that postpone their need for a transplant – sometimes forever. New drug protocols and ventricular assist devices – mechanical pumps that help the patient''s weakened heart pump blood through the body -- allow some patients to survive until a heart becomes available. Barnes-Jewish is one of a handful of programs across the U.S. offering implantable ventricular assist devices as destination therapy, or an alternative to heart transplant.
In addition to being one of the largest heart transplant centers in the Midwest, Barnes-Jewish is a comprehensive transplant center, offering kidney, liver and pancreas transplant and is the busiest lung transplant center in the world. Physicians here have pioneered transplant techniques and treatments including split liver transplants, minimally invasive kidney donor surgery and bilateral sequential lung transplantation.