Previously heart donors were people who were brain dead as if the donor died the cardiac muscles ‘powering’ the heart would become deoxygenated and deteriorate. This means that it is not possible to donate hearts post death. However there are not many brain dead patients who have suitable hearts for donation and are organ donors. This means that hearts are quite rare and do not last for a long time.
However now a heart that has been dead for over 20 minutes has been successfully been transplanted due to a new method of preservation. By being able to save hearts that have stopped beating this is said to suit 30% more donors then the previous method. The team who made this medical breakthrough took 12 years to develop a special fluid which like haemoglobin transports oxygen keeping the cardiac muscle alive. This technique, although not being ideal doubles the time the heart is viable for.
The is a very important breakthrough as now there is the technology to preserve an organ such as a heart, in the future we will see more and more efficient variants of this technology allowing organs to be stored for longer. This technique can also be used for other organs as well, although organs such as the kidneys or liver do not decay at the rate of the cardiac muscle.
I felt this article was very interesting and at the foot of the article was a link to a video of a heart transplant, although it was graphic it really showed just how useful this development is for modern surgery.
http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/dead-hearts-successfully-transplanted-first-time
However now a heart that has been dead for over 20 minutes has been successfully been transplanted due to a new method of preservation. By being able to save hearts that have stopped beating this is said to suit 30% more donors then the previous method. The team who made this medical breakthrough took 12 years to develop a special fluid which like haemoglobin transports oxygen keeping the cardiac muscle alive. This technique, although not being ideal doubles the time the heart is viable for.
The is a very important breakthrough as now there is the technology to preserve an organ such as a heart, in the future we will see more and more efficient variants of this technology allowing organs to be stored for longer. This technique can also be used for other organs as well, although organs such as the kidneys or liver do not decay at the rate of the cardiac muscle.
I felt this article was very interesting and at the foot of the article was a link to a video of a heart transplant, although it was graphic it really showed just how useful this development is for modern surgery.
http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/dead-hearts-successfully-transplanted-first-time