Reanimating a heart after death for organ transplant

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-07-17 07:00

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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.

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Research Massachusetts Medical Society, Web page Paper 1 - Please link to the article in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo ends).

Research Massachusetts Medical Society, Web page Paper 2 - Please link to the article in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo ends).

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

Funder: Sere papers for funding information.

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