Surgeons at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, Australia have performed the world's first transplant of a dead heart by using a new technique to revive the organ. The surgery is a major medical breakthrough that could help reduce the shortage of donor organs. The hospital has transplanted two hearts that were donated after circulatory death and were no longer beating, and both recipients are recovering well. This new technique uses a preservation solution and "heart in a box" machine to resuscitate, preserve, and assess the heart before transplant. It allows for hearts previously considered unsuitable for transplant to now be used, increasing the availability of donor hearts.

1. World's First Dead Heart Transplant
at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital - A
game changer
A surgeon inserting a tube into patient during
transplant surgery. Source: Getty Images
· Sydney surgeon’s dead heart transplant a
huge medical breakthrough · Previously,
transplants relied on donor hearts from brain
dead patients · Ability to revive hearts has major
implications for donor shortages · Two successful
transplants performed in last two months In a
world first, surgeons at St Vincent’s Hospital have

2. made a dead heart beat again and successfully
used it in a transplant. Described as the biggest
heart transplant breakthrough in a decade, the
successful surgery has profound implications for
reducing the shortage of donor organs, the
director of St Vincent’s Hospital Heart Lung
Transplant Unit, Professor Peter MacDonald, said
today.
The ‘heart in a box’ machine at work. Source:
Supplied

3. Previously transplant units relied solely on donor
hearts from brain dead patients whose hearts
were still beating. But the clinic has recently
transplanted two hearts which were donated after
circulatory death (DCD) — where the heart is no
longer beating — in both cases the patients are
recovering well.

5.
Transplant recipients Michelle Gribilar and Jan
Damen pictured at the press conference today.
Picture: Twitter/Victor Chang Institute Source:
Twitter
The first person to have the procedure done was
Michelle Gribilar. The 57-year-old from Campsie
was suffering from congenital heart failure and
had surgery about two months ago. She is
recovering well, saying today she “feels like she is
40” since the transplant. Ms Gribilar said prior to
the operation, she had not been able to walk
100m without trouble. Now she walks 3km and
climbs 100-120 stairs every day. “I’m a different
person altogether,” she said. “I was very sick
before I had it. Now I’m a different person
altogether.” The second patient, Jan Damen, 40,
from North Narrabeen also suffered from
congenital heart failure and had surgery about a
fortnight ago. He is still recovering at the hospital.
“I feel amazing,” the father of three said. “I have
to say I never thought I’d feel so privileged to
wear the St Vincent’s pyjamas. “I’m just looking
forward to getting back out into the real

6. world.” The former carpenter said he often
thinks about his donor. “I do think about it,
because without the donor I might not be here,”
he said. “I’m not religious or spiritual but it’s a
wild thing to get your head around.” The
transplants of DCD hearts comes as the result of
combined research between the Victor Chang
Cardiac Research Institute and St Vincent’s
Hospital. CUTTING-EDGE CANCER TREATMENT
AND RESEARCH CENTRE OPENS SURVIVOR LEADS
CAMPAIGN TO SUPPORT PINK RIBBON DAY The
two clinics created a special preservation solution
which works in conjunction with a “heart in a box”
machine, known as the ex vivo organ care system
(OCS).

7.
The team of doctors involved in the world's first
"dead heart transplant" at St Vincent's Hospital.
Source: Supplied
The OCS allows the donor heart to be connected
to a sterile circuit which restores the heart beat
and keeps it warm, limiting the adverse affects
associated with previous methods which saw
hearts kept on ice. Cold ischaemia, where the
heart is dormant without oxygen or nutrients
occurs under traditional methods where hearts

8. are kept in an Esky on ice. But using the
preservative solution and the heart in a box, the
heart is able to be reanimated, preserved and
assessed until it is ready to go into a
recipient. Cardiothoracic surgeon Assoc Prof
Kumud Dhital, who performed the transplants
with hearts donated after circulatory death (DCD),
said he “kicked the air” when the first surgery was
successful. It was possible thanks to new
technology, he said. “The incredible development
of the preservation solution with this technology
of being able to preserve the heart, resuscitate it
and to assess the function of the heart has made
this possible,” he said.

9.
Kumud Dhital, the transplant surgeon with the
monitor with the heart-in-a-box. Coming back
from the retrieval in a jet.Source: Supplied

10.
Medical staff transporting a heart in a heart-
resuscitation console in preparation for an organ
transplant. Source:Supplied
Professor MacDonald said the move to recover
hearts which were previously considered
unsuitable for transplantation means that
thousands more hearts could become available to

11. end-stage heart failure sufferers as the technology
becomes more readily available. “In all our years,
our biggest hindrance has been the limited
availability of organ donors,” Prof MacDonald
said. Researchers are still determining how long
after DCD a heart can be resuscitated, but have
revived hearts more than 30 minutes after
death.
Doctors speak at the press conference while
transplant patient Jan Damen looks on. Source:

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13. Posted by: "Proud Son" <coolkis@msn.com>