Reanimating a heart after death for organ transplant
Case study: A study involving observations of a single patient or group of patients.
People: This is a study based on research using people.
Two US studies describe two different methods of preserving donated hearts, which might increase the availability of heart transplants. In one study, researchers 'reanimated' a heart on the operating table, getting it to beat again after it was removed from a paediatric donor. The team set up a device made from pumps, bags and an oxygenator, that could keep blood flowing through the heart after it was removed from the donor. The heart was successfully implanted into a 3-month-old baby. The second study involved three cases in which surgeons flushed the hearts with a cold-preserving liquid before their removal from donors. This allowed the hearts to be transplanted without the ethical complications of 'reanimating' them using machines that restart the donor's blood circulation.
Journal/conference: New England Journal of Medicine
Research: Link to Paper 1 | Paper 2
Organisation/s: Duke University Medical Center, USA, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, USA
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