Papworth pioneers lead way in mission to save more lives

ROYAL Papworth Hospital has been at the forefront of a project that could see hundreds more transplants carried out each year.

Traditionally, organs are taken from donors who are declared brainstem dead under a method called Donation after Brainstem Death (DBD).

But under the Donation after Circulatory Death (DCD) method, organs are taken from bodies where there is no heartbeat. They start to decay as soon as circulation stops in the body and need to be placed quickly in the

Organ Care System box. Of 100 DCD hearts transplanted nationally, 82 have been done at Papworth in Cambridge.

Surgeon Pedro Catarino said: “We think we can make good use of heart and lungs from donors whose heart has stopped beating.

“They are likely not to be wanted because of a preference for beating heart donors. Such donations can only be recovered quite close to the transplanting hospital, so you need a network of hospitals which can go 60 miles to recover such an organ once they know a donor is about to die. Once the heart has stopped beating we have literally only minutes to recover the organs and attach them to the machine to prevent damage. It requires great team effort and quick working.”

A donor shortage means patients needing both a heart and lungs can miss out – as organs are often split between someone needing one or the other.

Just four or five heart-lung transplants are carried out in the UK each year. But using the box to preserve both organs could lead to many more.

Although Papworth has used the box more than 100 times over recent years, the concept is new and a network of hospitals offering such transplants is only just being established.

Teams are on permanent standby at Papworth and two other hospitals – Wythenshawe in Manchester and

Harefield in London.

Around 180 UK heart transplants take place each year, nowhere near enough to meet demand.

ACE OF HEARTS Top surgeon Pedro Catarino