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.