Cardiac Transplantation Following Storage of the Donor Heart by a Portable Hypothermic Perfusion System

• Published in: The Annals of thoracic surgery Vol. 37; no. 3; pp. 243 - 248
• Main Authors: Wicomb, W.N., Cooper, D.K.C., Novitzky, D., Barnard, C.N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01-03-1984; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Adult; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Coronary Circulation; Graft Rejection; Heart Transplantation; Humans; Hypothermia, Induced; Male; Medical sciences; Organ Preservation - methods; Papio; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Surgery of the heart; Time Factors; Transplantation, Heterologous; Heart; Perfusion; Surgery; Scion; Cardiovascular disease; Portable equipment; Shelf life; Homotransplantation; Hypothermia
• ISSN: 0003-4975; 1552-6259
• DOI: 10.1016/S0003-4975(10)60333-5

Four patients have undergone heterotopic heart transplantation with donor hearts stored by a portable hypothermic perfusion system. Total ischemic periods ranged from 6 hours 55 minutes to 16 hours 50 minutes. One heart, transplanted into a patient who had acutely rejected a previous graft, suffered accelerated, irreversible, acute rejection within five days, associated with strong antibody formation; donor heart function was never good. In the 3 remaining patients, donor heart function was good after initially being poor for a few hours in 2 patients. One patient died of long-term rejection after 6 months and 1 of tuberculous meningitis after 10 months; 1 remains alive at 15 months.
Neither preservation of the donor heart for periods in excess of approximately 4 hours nor the use of continuous hypothermic perfusion as a method of preservation appears to have been reported previously in the context of the clinical situation.