Beating Heart
Transplant Surgery Successful In UK - Could Help Donor Organ Shortage
June 9th 2006
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TransMedics
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A new technique may make it possible to transplant organs that would
otherwise not be transplantable. The new device, called the TransMedics
Organ Care System, could increase the pool of acceptable donor hearts by
allowing surgeons to transplant otherwise marginal donor organs.
Two weeks ago, doctors in the United Kingdom (UK) performed the world’s
first “beating heart transplant”. If approved in the US, it could
increase the donor supply and solve a chronic organ shortage crisis, ABC
News correspondent Bharathi Radhakrishan recently reported.
The system, developed in Boston, is a specialized machine that keeps the
heart beating and warm until it is ready to be used. This would
eliminate the need for packing the heart on ice, like the current method
entails.
The hospital in the UK is one of four in Europe taking part in the
trial. The donor heart is removed from the deceased patient and
immediately connected to the Organ Care System. The system revives the
heart and sustains it with oxygen and blood at the correct temperature.
It is hoped that the new system will be used to conduct checks on the
donor heart before transplant operations. Normally, surgeons have just
six hours to get a donated heart into a patient. Earth Times reports
this new technique raise the number of potential donors by at least 50%.
Professor Bruce Rosengard who conducted the transplant procedure said
"We know from experiments in the lab that we can maintain it for at
least eight to 12 hours”.
This should not be confused with a recent Stanford technique called
“beating heart surgery”. Dr. Kai Ihnken developed a technique for
repositioning the heart while the heart remains beating in the chest.
This allows the doctor to perform bypass surgery without using a heart
lung machine.
Dan Wilson
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