Surviving a Double Whammy

Oxon Hill Man Received a Rare Heart-Liver Transplant

Few patients are good candidates for a combined heart and liver transplant, and few doctors are willing to face the risks the complex surgery involves. As of August, only 53 heart-liver transplants had been performed in the United States in the past 15 years, according to data compiled by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.

In October, Trevanoyn Shelton of Oxon Hill joined that small group. He was medically ideal for the procedure and mentally prepared.

Shelton received donated organs in back-to-back surgeries that lasted a total of 10 1/2 hours. Now he is recovering and says he is feeling better than he has in years.

"I feel wonderful. I'm glad to be here," Shelton said yesterday, appearing with some of his doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.

Shelton, 33, suffered from a relatively rare heart condition known as restrictive cardiomyopathy, doctors said.

"His heart muscle became fibrotic and stiff, preventing the heart from filling with blood. As a consequence, the heart couldn't pump the blood forward into his body," said Sina L. Moainie, the cardiac surgeon who led the heart transplant team.

Shelton's malfunctioning heart caused his liver to become congested and fail, said Benjamin Philosophe, head of the medical center's division of transplantation and a member of the liver transplant team. Shelton also suffered from hepatitis B, which had caused fibrosis, or scarring of the liver.

"Mr. Shelton needed both a new heart and a new liver in order to survive," Philosophe said. "Each transplant itself is a major operation, and getting patients through a double transplant procedure of this magnitude is a challenge. The transplanted heart has to be strong enough to withstand the stress of a liver transplant."

Finding a pair of compatible donor organs also was a challenge, said Erika Feller, a cardiologist who worked to get Shelton listed correctly on a national waiting list for organs. Feller is the medical center's medical director for heart transplantation.

The organs Shelton received came from a Maryland donor whose identity was not released.

"I'm sorry someone had to lose their life to give me this opportunity, but I'm thankful," Shelton said.

Doctors believe his heart condition may be hereditary. His mother, Ramonia Shelton, died of a heart ailment five years ago, said his brother, Dwon Shelton.