‘Heart in a box’ to save lives

Cardiac surgeons from The Prince Charles Hospital (TPCH) have performed Queensland’s first heart transplant using new ground breaking technology that will allow more patients to receive life-saving heart transplants.

The new Transmedics Organ Care System keeps the donor heart warm and beating outside the body, providing better preservation of the donor organ during transport to the transplant recipient.

Minister for Health and Ambulance Services, Steven Miles said the Transmedics Organ Care System was revolutionising heart transplantation by expanding the potential donor heart pool in Queensland and improving the quality of donor organs.

“Preserving hearts for transplantation in a normal or close to normal physiological state gives our surgeons a greater window of time to perform transplants and potentially save more lives,” Minister Miles said.

“The new system gives surgeons over eight hours compared with the current cold storage method which only gives around four hours, before the donor organ starts to deteriorate.

“This technology means that donor organs can be retrieved from a far greater range of geographical locations throughout Queensland and Australia, which increases the chance for more patients to receive life-saving heart transplants.

“The new system also allows clinicians to monitor and re-condition the donor heart during the transport period. This keeps the heart in better shape for surgery, and minimises the risk of complications for the patient following their transplant.”

TPCH’s Director of Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation, Dr George Javorsky said that heart transplantation was the only option for certain patients with end stage heart failure.

“Patients waiting for a heart transplant are extremely unwell, and some patients require artificial heart support while they wait for a suitable donor heart to become available,” Dr Javorsky said.

“In Queensland, we have performed an average of between 11 and 15 heart transplants from 2003 to 2013.

“Unfortunately this figure has remained static because of the severe shortage of suitable donor organs available. “This new system will hopefully increase the number of suitable donor hearts for patients awaiting transplant, and reduce the amount of time patients wait for their transplant operation.

“Importantly, transplantation would not be possible without the generosity of organ donors and their families,” Dr Javorsky said.

The Prince Charles Hospital performed seven heart transplants in 2017 and has performed five heart transplants in 2018 to date.

Funding for the Transmedics Organ Care System was provided by Queensland Health’s New Technology Funding and Evaluation Program.