Normothermic Regional Perfusion in Heart Transplantation
“Typically, donor hearts come from a small pool of donors who are declared brain dead but remain on life support. The new method, known as normothermic regional perfusion, expands the potential donor pool to include patients who are comatose, though not brain dead. The technique involves using a cardiopulmonary bypass machine to restore blood flow to the heart in comatose patients whose families have withdrawn life support. Because the procedure involves restarting blood flow after the heart and circulation have stopped, some ethicists and surgeons say it invalidates any previous declaration of death. Another part of the procedure sparking concern is the use of clamps to cut blood flow from the revived heart to the donor’s head, which is done to limit the possibility that any trace of brain activity is restored when circulation is restarted.” MORE
Image Credit: The New York Times