Zombie Heart Transplant

Just in time for Halloween and breakthrough in heart transplant surgery.  Australian doctors have transplanted  successfully a donor heart that had ceased to beat – considered lifeless organ – into a patient with congenital heart disease.  Heart transplants traditionally require the circulation of donor maintained on life-support and is only removed for a maximum of four hours before transplantation.  Now, doctors in Australia have devised a new “heart-in-the-box” method.  The medical device revives a heart after it has stopped beating.  It warms the organ, restarts the heartbeat, and bathes it in a nutrient fluid to keep the organ healthy and extending the time to find a recipient for the donation.

(The “heart-in-a-box” device. Image Credit: BBC)

So far, surgeons at St. Vincent Hospital in Sydney have completed two transplants using the device and patient recovery has been exceptional.

Read the full article on the BBC.

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