More and safer heart transplants could become possible with new heart
box

Date:
June 15, 2020
Source:
Lund University
Summary:
A donated heart can now be transported and preserved for longer than
what has previously been possible. The new method, which consists
of a specially designed heart box, was used for a transplant for
the first time as early as the summer of 2017. Now it has been
evaluated in a first clinical study.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A donated heart can now be transported and preserved for longer than
what has previously been possible. The new method, which consists of a specially designed heart box, was used for a transplant for the first
time as early as the summer of 2017. Now it has been evaluated in a first clinical study, and the results are published in Nature Communications.


==========================================================================
The results from the study show clear signs of improvement when the new
method is used.

"Although it is too early to draw far-reaching conclusions, we are
obviously hopeful. If our results continue to be positive, the method
could make a big difference for patients needing a heart transplant,"
says Johan Nilsson, cardiothoracic surgeon at Skaane University Hospital
and professor at Lund University in Sweden.

The method involves preserving and transporting the donated heart in
a specially designed heart box, where it is supplied with important
substances in an oxygenated, blood-mixed solution. One of the advantages
of the box is that it enables a longer preservation time, which in turn
could mean that the donated heart could be transported farther than is currently possible.

Six of the patients in the study received heart transplants in which the
heart was preserved and transported with the new method. Twenty-five
patients made up the control group, and these patients received
transplants using the traditional preservation method.

"None of the six patients who received their new heart with the new
method have suffered complications, however, we have seen complications
in some of the patients in the control group," says Johan Nilsson.

Examples of complications are heart failure, acute rejection or death
of the patient.

The hope is that in the future, hearts can be preserved in the specially designed box for up to 12 hours. A few years ago, tests were carried out
with pig hearts that, using the new method, survived a total of 24 hours outside the body. However, the current study tested a maximum of four
and a half hours - - in comparison, current methods have a four-hour
time span.

"Based on the results we have produced so far, we cannot claim with
certainty that we are able to preserve a heart for 12 hours, however,
our study shows that the new method enables longer preservation than
today. If we, in our continued research, can establish that this is
possible, it would mean entirely new opportunities for transplants. It
would, for example, be possible to fly hearts between countries, which
we are currently cannot," says Johan Nilsson.

"The plan now is that we will shortly test the new method with a group
of 33 patients. In addition to the six patients who participated in the
study, we have also used the method in an additional nine transplants. And
it still looks promising," he concludes.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Lund_University. Note: Content may
be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Johan Nilsson, Victoria Jernryd, Guangqi Qin, Audrius Paskevicius,
Carsten Metzsch, Trygve Sjöberg, Stig Steen. A nonrandomized
open- label phase 2 trial of nonischemic heart preservation for
human heart transplantation. Nature Communications, 2020; 11 (1)
DOI: 10.1038/s41467- 020-16782-9 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200615115752.htm

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