Transplant transport • Discovery | 合法醫療器材資訊網

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Procuring and transporting a human heart for transplant is a race.

Once the beating heart of a brain-dead donor is stopped and removed, its cells begin to show stress from lack of oxygen. After too long, the heart can no longer be revived.

Time out of body—“ischemic time”—is best kept to under four hours. “We try to avoid greater than six hours,” says University of Minnesota Health cardiologist Cindy Martin, M.D.[1]

That’s not much time to remove an organ, get it to the recipient, and complete a complicated transplant surgery. Plus, not everyone is a suitable donor. Most are younger than 55, have no history of chest trauma or cardiac disease, and have a normal electrocardiogram and echocardiogram.

These limitations mean fewer hearts for fewer people. In 2017, 3,244 hearts were transplanted in the United States. But more than 100,000 patients could benefit ...