June 9, 2023 – A recently developed method for performing heart transplants works in addition to the normal method and, if widely adopted, could greatly increase the variety of hearts available for transplant, Duke University doctors say.
The study team examined 180 heart transplants that were performed in quite a few hospitals. Half of the transplants were hearts from brain-dead donors – the normal method – and the opposite half were hearts from individuals who had suffered circulatory death. Circulatory death occurs when all circulatory and respiratory functions stop.
Six months later, the survival rate was roughly the identical – 94% for the recipients of the circulatory death donations and 90% for the brain death donations. The newer method is “not inferior” to the usual method, based on the conclusion of the New England Journal of Medicine.
If the practice of using donated hearts after circulatory death became widespread, the variety of hearts available for transplant could increase by 30%, Duke University doctors said, based on The Associated Press.
“If we could honestly snap our fingers and get people to use this, the increase would probably continue,” said transplant surgeon Jacob Schroder of Duke University School of Medicine, who led the study. “This really should be standard of care.”
Most heart transplants happen after brain death, with the body remaining on a ventilator to maintain the center running until it's removed. Donations after circulatory death are sometimes used to transplant other organs, comparable to kidneys and livers, but much less often for the more delicate heart, the AP reported.
Now doctors can remove those hearts and “revive” them using a machine that pumps in blood and nutrients, leaving the hearts in a functioning state before transplant, the outlet reported.
Doctors at Duke University performed the primary DCD heart transplants within the United States in 2019. The AP reported, citing the United Network for Organ Sharing, that there have been 343 DCD heart transplants within the United States last yr and 227 to date this yr.