University Hospitals of Cleveland voluntarily halted its heart transplant program after patient survival rates fell significantly below the national average.

"In the last six months there've been several unexpected poor outcomes," said Dr. James Schulak, chief of surgery. "They wanted to sort it out."

Schulak said the number of patients who survived a year after their heart transplant had fallen to "between 60 and 70 percent" -- considerably below the current national average of 85.41 percent.

The hospital has arranged to bring in a surgeon and cardiologist from the University of Minnesota to review all heart transplants performed over the past year, and said it was transferring patients on its heart waiting list to the Cleveland Clinic or another center of the patient's choice.

University Hospitals had restarted its heart transplant program, which had been voluntarily suspended in 1992, in 1998 when it recruited Drs. Robert Stewart and Tom Kirby from the Cleveland Clinic.

Since then, University Hospitals had performed 39 heart transplants, including 22 in the year ending June 30, 2001. Schulak said the hospital hopes to resume performing heart transplants in a few months.

Other sources: Cleveland Plain Dealer