First Beating Heart Transplant
“Here we [transplant surgeons at Stanford University Hospital] report the first case of a beating heart transplant with uninterrupted coronary perfusion in a heart procured from a deceased after circulatory death donor using ex vivo heart perfusion with the Organ Care System. The use of donors who are deceased after circulatory death (DCD) for heart transplantation has the potential to expand the donor pool by 30% to 50%. . . . . We have developed a strategy of performing DCD heart transplant without rearresting the heart, obliviating any additional ischemic time after procurement, wherein the donor heart is implanted while beating and perfused with warm blood. Here we report the first successful case of a beating heart transplant using ex vivo heart perfusion in a DCD donor heart.” MORE
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