I’m excited to announce that I’m working on a new medical thriller, this one centered around heart transplants.
On December 3, 1967, Dr. Christian (Chris) Barnard performed the world’s first human-to-human heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. Since then, the number of heart transplants has risen rapidly. Today, approximately 3,500 heart transplants are performed every year, more than half of which occur in the US. The average post-operation survival period is 15 years.
At any given time, there are between 3,500 to 4,000 people in the U.S. waiting for a heart or a heart-lung transplant. A person may wait months for a transplant, while more than 25% of people on the list will not live long enough to receive a new heart.
There have been many innovations in organ donation, including new surgical techniques and the development of medications that allow for the use of organs from people with certain chronic infections like Hepatitis C. One area that hasn’t seen much innovation until recently is the transportation of organs–that is, moving the organ from the donor to the recipient’s location.
Historically, doctors have relied on coolers, with the organ being stored on ice until it can be transplanted into the recipient. The organ begins to deteriorate once it is outside of the body, meaning doctors have a limited window to transport the organ until it becomes nonviable and must be discarded. While kidneys can last up to 36 hours on ice, hearts and lungs can only be kept out of the body for about four to six hours.
This system adds some geographic disparity into organ donation lists because it limits how far organs can travel. For instance, someone in New York may have a more pressing need for the organ than someone in Los Angeles, but if it would take too long to transport the organ to the patient in New York, that person would miss out on an organ they otherwise could have benefited from. Until now, a heart couldn’t be shipped across the country.
A new innovation in organ transportation would extend the amount of time organs can remain outside of the body and enable doctors to better monitor the health of the organ. These new devices, which are large boxes on wheels, keep the organs in a functioning state at body temperature. The transportation system even uses warm, nutrient-enriched blood so that the organ can keep functioning. During transport, the donated heart keeps beating. Special equipment monitors the organ, and keeps it at the right temperature and humidity.Warm perfusion will allow significantly more donated organs to be delivered in time for a transplant, which is most important when it comes to organs that can’t last long outside of the body, like hearts.
