Britain’s first beating heart transplant a success

DOCTORS have performed Britain’s first beating heart transplant and say they hope the procedure will “revolutionise” the way transplants are carried out.

Professor Bruce Rosengard, from Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, led the team that transferred a beating heart into a 58-year-old man, who did not wish to be named.

The operation, which has only been performed twice before in Germany, relies on the heart being kept warm and beating outside of the body prior to transplant.

Until now, removed organs have had to be placed on ice and transferred to the recipient within four to six hours, risking deterioration.

But the new technology, called the TransMedics Organ Care System, developed in Boston, means organs for transplant can now “live” for longer, and can travel further.

Prof Rosengard said organs are traditionally cut from the body, submerged in a high potassium solution and then put in an “igloo” to be transported. Now, the heart is cut from the donor using the potassium solution, placed in a basin of cold saline, and then connected to the machine along with some of the donor’s blood.

The organ is maintained at slightly below body temperature in order to reduce stress on it.

The beating heart can then be moved to wherever the recipient is waiting.

Prof Rosengard said: “The whole process of taking the heart out and preparing it takes up to 20 minutes.

“During that time it is not beating but then we start it again to be moved in the machine, giving it oxygen and nutrient-filled blood.

“We know from experiments in the lab that we can maintain it for at least eight to 12 hours.”

Prof Rosengard said the man was now doing “extremely well”.

The man’s own heart had been badly damaged either through repeated heart attacks or due to dilation, possibly caused by a virus, Prof Rosengard said.