Infant Jesus, first heart transplant transported at a controlled temperature – breaking latest news

Small. And light, just 60 grams. Nevertheless able to save the life of a child who had been hospitalized for months. All’Bambino Gesu hospital the first transplant was performed on a pediatric patientsuffering from restrictive myocardiopathy, in which an organ transported with an innovative temperature-controlled system was used. A system that guarantees that one constant temperature of 5 degrees and that allows doctors who perform the surgery to remotely monitor, via an app, the precise location and distance. The operation was fully successful and the little boy was discharged and returned home.

Speed ​​and accuracy are the hallmarks of organ transport procedures. The medical team of the receiving hospital, having acquired the availability of an organ to be removed from the National Transplant Center, leaves immediately for the donor’s hospital to perform the removal. Everything happens very quickly. The removed organ is placed in sterile bags that contain a cold solution and placed in a refrigerated container filled with ice. This method, called “cold ischemia” (ischemia the interval during which the organ remains outside the body) allows to protect the human heart from ischemic damage between the collection and the transplant for a period of three or four hours.

The temperature-controlled system, already in use in several European countries and in Italy only for the transport of organs for adults, guarantees the preservation of the organ and reduces the risk of deterioration.. And it consists of an external part, that is the transport vector, which has at its center a hard shell in which there is the heart dipped in a cold storage solution. On the outside of the shell itself there is dry ice that guarantees constant 5 degrees. A data logger monitors the temperature throughout the transport.

The most important advantage – says Antonio Amodeo, head of Compensation, transplantation and cardio-respiratory mechanical assistance to the Bambino Gesu – is that within this system, temperatures below 2 degrees are never reached, as can occur in traditional transport. The system prevents the risk of freezing of parts of the surface of the heart while keeping the temperature of the entire organ constant. in fact, it has been ascertained that temperatures below 2 degrees cause damage to the cellular structure of the heart.

Words of appreciation for the innovation introduced in the pediatric center par excellence, were expressed by theregional councilor for health, Alessio D’Amato: This intervention made it possible to save the life of a child hospitalized for months at the Bambino Ges pediatric hospital. I want to thank all the medical teams who made this surgery and the transport of the organ possible. Donation is a gesture of love and allows you to save lives and in this case the life of a little patient. Lazio is confirmed as the leading region for transplants.

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