Machine at the heart of success

A MACHINE that keeps donated hearts alive outside the body for double the usual time is offering hope of eliminating the most deadly complication of lifesaving transplant surgery, as well as enabling more donor hearts to be used.

For the past 50 years, donated organs have been transported between hospitals in ice-filled eskies.

The new “heart in the box” device pumps the heart with nutrients and oxygen once it is retrieved from the donor, which protects it.

Melbourne dad Andrew Conway holds the world record for the longest time a donor heart has been out of the body before transplantation, at seven hours and 18 minutes.

Surgeons were astounded at how the 55-year-old sailed through intensive care following the recent operation, which saw him walking two days later and released from The Alfred after 12 days.

“My heart was only running at 16 per cent at the end, but I’m as good as gold now,” Mr Conway said.

The new device allows donor hearts to survive with minimal damage for at least eight hours outside the body – up to double the current fourhour window – which dramatically reduces the chance of post-surgery complications, which is the biggest killer.

This could mean saving an extra 22 lives each year, on top of the 150 heart transplants performed.

Five patients in Victoria and one in Sydney have had their transplants made possible through the heart box, a Swedish-designed hypothermic exvivo perfusion system.