THE SURGEON
Finding a match is the most amazing, life-changing thing
Phil Curry is a consultant cardiac and transplant surgeon at the Golden Jubilee Hospital and performed Angela’s surgery.
“It’s very rewarding,” he said of his job. “When you see patients, maxed out on everything, recover and lead a normal life again, it’s such a remarkable thing. I do the transplant and it still amazes me how it can change a life so much.”
While the operation itself is regarded as quite straightforward, and sees the old heart taken out and the new heart put in and beating within one hour, the build-up to the procedure is a science in itself that has a strictly regimented timetable.
“The process begins when a donor is declared brainstem dead – no function above the brain stem – by two independent consultants,” Phil explained.
“Tests will be done on the organs and, if the next of kin agrees to donation, the organs go on to the NHS Blood and Transplant service.
“There are two waiting lists – urgent and elective. Urgent are those too sick to be at home.
“The heart has to be matched for blood group, and we try to get a height and weight match within 10%.
“When we get the details and decide if it’s a good match, that’s when we first tell the recipient.
“As the retrieval team start the donor operation, we are preparing the recipient in theatre.
“There is roughly three hours to get the heart out, protect it, pack it in ice and transport it to the Jubilee. Removing it takes a half-hour and, depending on the location, it may have to be flown.
“By the time the new heart is here, we will have removed the diseased heart so there are no delays.”
The recipient is kept alive on a machine while the switch-over happens.
The medical team inspects the heart, trims it to size if need be, runs cold blood through it to protect it and begins attaching the heart.
“We stimulate it to get it beating, then, over a period of 30-40 minutes, we wean the patient off the machine and let the new heart take over.
“Going well, they will be asleep for 24 hours until we gradually wake them.
“The patient is already on a suppressant drug by that point to make sure the heart doesn’t reject.
“Within a few days they’ll go back to the ward and physiotherapy and post-op care begins.”