For the first time in the United States, doctors brought a heart back to life and successfully transplanted it. New technology is allowing donated organs to stay viable longer and get to the patients who need them. (1)
Organ Transplants
The first successful human organ transplant occurred in 1954 when a kidney was transplanted from one person to another. Since then, organ donations and transplants have saved many lives. In 2018 alone, 36,527 organ transplants occurred in the U.S. (1, 2)
But there are still almost 114,000 people on the waitlist for a transplant in the United States. And each day, 20 people die while waiting for an organ donation. (3)
One issue is that there simply aren’t enough donors available. But, even when doctors have attained an organ, it is challenging to keep it viable long enough to get it to a patient on the waitlist. (4)
“The time constraints imposed by organ preservation are a fundamental limitation in the current organ allocation system,” Dr. David Klassen, the chief medical officer of the United Network for Organ Sharing, told NBC News. (4)
Organs are usually kept on ice in a cooler for transport. Once an organ gets removed from the body of a donor, it immediately starts to deteriorate. On ice, kidneys can last up to 36 hours. Hearts and lungs last only four to six hours. This affects how far organs can travel to get to a waiting patient. (4)
“You typically cannot send a heart from Los Angeles to New York,” Klassen said to NBC News. (4)
But a new device is about to change all of that. And the medical community hopes that it will allow more waiting patients to receive the transplants they need. (1, 4)
Organ Care System
TransMedics’ Organ Care System has already been used in Europe, Canada, and Australia to keep kidneys, hearts, lungs, and livers viable for transplant. The device uses a process called warm perfusion to keep organs usable and even bring them back to life. (4)
The Organ Care System has been nicknamed the “beating heart in a box”. A donor organ gets hooked up the device, which pumps the organ with warm, oxygenated, nutrient-rich blood. This allows the organ to continue to function as its en route to the transport site. (4)
“The organ believes that it’s still in the body,” Dr. Waleed Hassanein, president and CEO of TransMedics, told NBC News. “The heart is beating. The lung is breathing. The liver is making bile. The kidneys are making urine.” (4)
Since the organ is functioning, doctors can both monitor it and make it healthier during transport. They might treat an infection with antibiotics or inflate collapsed portions of a lung. (4)
Klassen believes that the Organ Care System will allow more organs to make it to patients for transplant. “The system will be more successful, fair, and efficient,” he added. (4)
Doctors Bring Heart Back to Life
Doctors at Duke performed the first U.S. heart transplant using the Organ Care System in December 2019. They revived a heart that had stopped beating with the Organ Care System and transplanted it into a patient. (1)
The Organ Care System will be especially helpful for heart transplants. Previously, heart transplants have only come from donors who have experienced brain death. Although they have been declared dead, their heart is still pumping blood. (1)
Now, the Organ Care System allows a heart that has been cut off from its blood supply to be brought “back to life”. Not only does the Organ Care System pump blood through the heart, but it can also help the heart recover from being cut off from the blood supply by adjusting the flow and pressure of the blood. (1)
Dr. Jacob Schroder, one of the doctors who led the transplant, told USA Today that the device could cut the heart transplant waitlist by 30% because it will allow so many more hearts to be used for transplant. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Duke and four other sites to use the Organ Care System for clinical trials. The FDA has not yet approved the device. (1)
