08/13/2026
Oklahoma Children’s OU Health has performed Oklahoma’s first partial heart transplant, giving an infant living heart valves from a donor heart through a procedure performed fewer than 50 times in the United States.
The milestone makes Oklahoma Children’s the first pediatric or adult transplant program in the state to offer this innovative treatment and places the organization among a select group of centers nationwide performing the procedure.
As Dr. Harold Burkhart, director of the pediatric cardiothoracic surgical program at Oklahoma Children's, explained: “For a child born with a damaged heart valve, the hardest part has always been that a replacement valve does not grow with them. That has meant returning to the operating room again and again over the years. A partial heart transplant changes that. We are placing living valves that grow with this child, and that can spare a family from a lifetime of repeated surgeries.”
Every partial heart transplant begins with the gift of organ donation. We are deeply grateful to the donor family whose generosity made this life-changing surgery possible and to the physicians, nurses and staff members whose expertise helped make this milestone a reality.
This achievement reflects Oklahoma Children’s ongoing commitment to advancing pediatric heart care and bringing leading-edge treatment options closer to home for Oklahoma families. It also represents the kind of innovation that will be supported by the future Oklahoma Children’s OU Health Presbyterian Health Foundation Heart Center, which is expected to expand and strengthen pediatric cardiac care across the state.
