Dead Heart Transplant @ St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney

Dead Heart Transplant @ St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney

And the Doctor who performed this miracle ......... Dr. Kumud Dhital.

· Sydney surgeon’s dead heart transplant a huge medical breakthrough
· Previously, transplants relied on donor hearts from brain dead patients
· Ability to revive hearts has major implications for donor shortages
· Two successful transplants performed in last 2 months

In a world's first, surgeons at St Vincent’s Hospital have made a dead heart beat again & successfully used it in a transplant. Described as the biggest heart transplant breakthrough in a decade, the successful surgery has profound implications for reducing the shortage of donor organs.

Doctors at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney used a heart-resuscitation console and preservation solution developed in Australia to transplant dead hearts into patients

Previously transplant units relied solely on donor hearts from brain dead patients whose hearts were still beating. But the clinic has recently transplanted 2 hearts which were donated after circulatory death (DCD) — where the heart is no longer beating — in both cases the patients are recovering well.

Ms Gribilas (centre) said she is a 'different person altogether' after receiving her transplant

The first person to have the procedure done was Michelle Gribilar. The 57-year-old from Campsie was suffering from congenital heart failure & had surgery about 2 months ago. She is recovering well, saying today she “feels like she is 40” since the transplant. Ms Gribilar said prior to the operation, she had not been able to walk 100 mt without trouble. Now she walks 3 km & climbs 100-120 stairs every day. “I’m a different person altogether,” she said. “I was very sick before I had it. Now I’m a different person altogether.”

The second patient, Jan Damen, 40, from North Narrabeen also suffered from congenital heart failure and had surgery about a fortnight ago. He is still recovering at the hospital. “I feel amazing,” the father of 3 said.
“I have to say I never thought I’d feel so privileged to wear the St Vincent’s pyjamas. “I’m just looking forward to getting back out into the real world.”

The former Carpenter said he often thinks about his donor. “I do think about it, because without the donor I might not be here,” he said. “I’m not religious or spiritual, but it’s a wild thing to get your head around.” The transplants of DCD hearts comes as the result of combined research between the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Insti. & St Vincent’s Hospital.

CUTTING-EDGE CANCER TREATMENT & RESEARCH CENTER OPENS
SURVIVOR LEADS CAMPAIGN TO SUPPORT PINK RIBBON DAY
The 2 clinics created a special preservation solution which works in conjunction with a “Heart in a box” machine, known as the ex vivo organ care system (OCS).

Dr. K.Dhital, Ms Gribilas, NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner, Mr Damen & Prof Peter MacDonald at Hospital

The OCS allows the donor heart to be connected to a sterile circuit which restores the heart beat and keeps it warm, limiting the adverse affects associated with previous methods which saw hearts kept on ice.
Cold ischaemia, where the heart is dormant without oxygen or nutrients occurs under traditional methods where hearts are kept in an Esky on ice. But using the preservative solution and the heart in a box, the heart is able to be reanimated, preserved and assessed until it is ready to go into a recipient.

Cardiothoracic surgeon Assoc Prof Kumud Dhital, who performed the transplants with hearts donated after circulatory death (DCD), said he “kicked the air” when the first surgery was successful. It was possible thanks to new technology, he said. “The incredible development of the preservation solution with this technology of being able to preserve the heart, resuscitate it & to assess the function of the heart has made this possible,” he said.

Medical staff transporting a heart in a heart-resuscitation console developed by doctors at St Vincent's Hospital and researchers at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute

Professor MacDonald said the move to recover hearts which were previously considered unsuitable for transplantation means that thousands more hearts could become available to end-stage heart failure sufferers as the technology becomes more readily available. “In all our years, our biggest hindrance has been the limited availability of organ donors,” Prof MacDonald said.
Researchers are still determining how long after DCD a heart can be resuscitated, but have revived hearts more than 30 minutes after death.