Doctors find new ways to preserve and transplant heart

For the first time in the world, doctors at St Vincent Hospital, Australia have successfully implanted a dead heart into the body of a patient.

>>>Successfully implanted artificial hearts for humans

For the first time in the world, doctors at St Vincent Hospital, Australia have successfully implanted a dead heart into the body of a patient. By using a new preservation method, researched and developed by Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in partnership with St Vincent Hospital. With this new technology, doctors can fully implant heart failure from a few minutes to more than half an hour.

Organ Care heart care system

Professor Bob Graham, executive director of Victor Chang Heart Research Institute, said: 'When the body is dead, the heart gradually loses oxygen for about 20 to 30 minutes, causing great damage to the inner tissue. in. Therefore, it was previously assessed that the heart is one of the most difficult parts to transplant and difficult to preserve. However, with Organ Care system, the heart can now be preserved in an artificial environment perfectly. This is a compact system, so it is possible to bring in any hospital in Australia '.

Organ Care system allows the perfect reconstruction of the body's environment, from temperature, humidity, simulations of brain signals, along with some special chemicals injected into the heart. Thanks to that, the heart continues to operate and beat normally in an artificial preservation environment. As a result, doctors can store for more than 30 minutes to transport to other hospitals where patients are waiting for a transplant.

This new technology is the result of more than 20 years of research. So far, St Vincent Hospital has successfully implanted 3 heart transplants with this new technology and hopes it will be applied worldwide soon. According to Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, this medical breakthrough will increase the number of successful heart transplant cases by more than 30%, opening new hopes for patients.