Two new ways found to 'resuscitate' the heart outside the body

A new method of 'resuscitating' the heart outside the body could increase the number of donated organs by 30% to save even more lives.

Many newborns die while waiting for heart transplants - Photo: REUTERS

Surgeons at Duke University (USA) successfully resuscitated a "dead" heart on the operating table after it stopped beating for more than five minutes. With the consent of the donor's family, the surgeons resuscitated the heart on the operating table using an oxygen generator and a centrifuge pump.

The organ was then transplanted into the chest of a three-month-old baby to save her life. The child is now six months old, and the donated heart she received continues to function normally, with no signs of rejection.

The story provides evidence that the concept of "on-the-table resuscitation" is effective in preserving hearts for transplantation, at least for newborns, according to Science Alert on July 21.

Today in the United States, up to 20% of infants needing heart transplants die while awaiting organ donation. Most organ donors must be declared brain dead before their organs can be removed. Only 0.5% of pediatric heart transplants are performed after the heart has stopped beating and blood circulation has ceased.

Some critics argue that removing the breathing tube from a terminally ill patient, allowing the heart to beat again, and then taking it out for transplantation is ethically wrong.

They argue that if a heart is resuscitated inside the donor's body, this would negate the definition of circulatory death (a condition where the heart stops beating and blood circulation ceases, leading to a cessation of oxygen and nutrient supply to the body's organs).

Doctors at Duke University believe that performing extracorporeal cardiac resuscitation (ECR) on the operating table will reduce ethical concerns. They also note that this method could increase the number of organ donations by 30%.

Meanwhile, surgeons at Vanderbilt University (USA) have another idea to avoid the most common ethical concerns.

Instead of attempting to immediately resuscitate the donated heart, they preserved it. The team explained that by clamping the aorta and pumping in a cooling solution, they successfully restored three donor hearts for transplantation.

By clamping down on the heart's circulatory system, the team isolated their work from the donor's brain—a practice that often raises ethical concerns during resuscitation.

"Our technique simply delivers an oxygenated preservation solution into the donor's heart, without the need for cardiac resuscitation or systemic or cerebral perfusion," the research team explained.

This technique has shown good postoperative results. All three donated hearts were successfully transplanted with healthy heart function. The team believes this method has wide-ranging applications.

Both the Duke University and Vanderbilt University studies were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

ANH THU

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tim-ra-2-cach-moi-giup-hoi-suc-tim-ben-ngoai-co-the-20250722105912367.htm