Australian surgeons make dead heart transplant breakthrough

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Procedure, using hearts that had stopped beating for 20 minutes, could save lives of 30% more transplant patients
Heart surgery
The new heart transplant procedure has been described as a ‘paradigm shift’. Photograph: Sean Smith for the Guardian

In a world first, Australian surgeons have successfully transplanted “dead” hearts into patients.

The procedure, using hearts that had stopped beating, has been described as a “paradigm shift” that will herald a major increase in the pool of hearts available for transplantation. It is predicted the breakthrough will save the lives of 30% more heart transplant patients.

Until now, transplant units have relied solely on still-beating donor hearts from brain-dead patients. But the medical team at St Vincent hospital’s heart lung transplant unit, Sydney, announced on Friday that they had transplanted three heart-failure patients using donor hearts that had stopped beating for 20 minutes.

Two of the patients have recovered well, while the third, who recently undertook the procedure, remains in intensive care.

Cardiologist Professor Peter MacDonald said the donor hearts were stored in a portable console coined a “heart in a box”. They were submerged in a ground-breaking preservation solution developed by the hospital and the Victor Chang cardiac research institute. The hearts were then connected to a sterile circuit where they were kept beating and warm.