A small heart weighing 60 grams saved the life of a child hospitalized for months at the Infant Jesus. It is the first transplant in Italy in which an innovative temperature-controlled heart transport system was used at a pediatric level. The system guarantees a constant temperature of the organ of 5 degrees and, through a dedicated app, allows the doctors involved in the transplant to follow the geolocation of the transport and remotely monitor the temperature of the heart. The child who received the organ had restrictive heart disease and had to be supported with an artificial heart before the transplant. His current condition is good and he has already been discharged.
The basis of the entire mechanism is a smart shell, in which the heart is immersed and suspended in a cold storage solution in order to be transported. And it has perhaps the most important function in the world: that of saving tiny lives, waiting for a new organ.
In complex situations such as that of a transplant, the medical team of the receiving hospital, having acquired the availability of an organ to be removed from the National Transplant Center, leaves for the donor’s hospital. Everything happens very quickly. The removed organ is placed in sterile bags with a cold solution and placed in a refrigerated container filled with ice. This method allows to protect the human heart from ischemic damage between collection and transplantation for 3 or 4 hours. The shortage of organs and the need for long-distance transport has prompted research to invest in systems that can guarantee the conservation of the organ to be transplanted, minimizing the risk of deterioration.
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