Until today, the Sahlgrenska University Hospital had the permission for conducting liver and lung transplantations. Based on the decision of the Board which license national health care, the hospital now received the additional assignment to conduct heart transplantations.

The second hospital that will be allowed to perform heart transplantations is the Skåne University Hospital. Although the Karolinska University Hospital had applied for permission, the National Board of Health and Welfare decided that cardiac transplantation should be centralized in two other hospitals; Gothenburg and Lund.

- Sahlgrenska University Hospital and Skåne University Hospital have the best prerequisite of the three candidates to perform heart transplantations, says Lars-Erik Holm, Director and Chairman of the National Board of Health and Welfare.

In the last year, 32 out of the 55 heart transplantations carried out in Sweden were conducted at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital. Michael Olausson, Professor and Director of the Transplant Center at the hospital, is noticeably pleased:

- This is great, especially for the patients. By that, we have greater patient volumes and the results will be even better, he says. In addition, the increasing number of patients will give us the possibility to maintain and improve the skills of the hospital and to reach major research progress.

Please find more information on the National Board of Health and Welfare website:

www.socialstyrelsen.se/riks

For the full story in Swedish:

http://www.sahlgrenska.se/sv/SU/Aktuellt/Nyheter/suNytt/Hjarttransplantation-utsett-till-rikssjukvard/