Swiss doctors transplant heart after record-long transport
Keystone-SDA
A Swiss hospital has kept a heart alive outside of a human body for a Europe-record 12 hours before being successfully transplanted.
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According to the Inselspital in Bern, bad weather prevented the heart reaching the transplant hospital by plane. It was therefore transported by car between the two hospitals.
The patient with the new heart is doing very well. “The ability to keep a heart beating outside the body for a longer period of time without damage is an absolute game changer for Swiss transplant medicine,” said David Reineke, Head of Cardiac Surgery at Inselspital.
New technology saves lives
With the introduction of ex vivo perfusion, the waiting time for a suitable organ has been cut by a third and the number of patients receiving an organ has doubled in a very short space of time, Reineke continued.
In ex vivo perfusion, organs outside the body are perfused with a solution containing nutrients, oxygen and medication necessary to maintain the organ in optimal condition.
Previously, donor organs were disconnected from the bloodstream and rinsed cold during removal. They were then kept cool in transport boxes filled with ice. According to the Inselspital, this kept a heart alive for a maximum of four hours.
Translated from German by DeepL/mga
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