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SYDNEY, NSW /
The Sydney Morning Herald / Science / October 7, 2009
Sydney scientists have developed a world-first technique, which could allow donated hearts to survive outside the body for up to 10 hours, significantly expanding the pool of organs available to those in need.
The new preservation solution, created by scientists at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and St Vincent's Hospital, could help hearts remain viable for twice as long as they are now, allowing doctors to retrieve organs from donors as far afield as New Zealand or Perth.
The longer time frame will also give regional recipients greater access to donated hearts because they will have more time to travel to a major centre for surgery.
“The longer a donor heart lives outside the recipient, the more it will deteriorate, increasing the risk of injury or even death during transplantation, due to restricted blood flow,” the head of the institute,
Bob Graham, said.
The drug solution has been tested on pigs, weighing up to 60 kilograms, but is yet to be tested on humans.
Forty-four hearts have been transplanted across Australia so far this year, including nine in NSW, but 90 people are still on the waiting list.
“In time, we will be able to draw from a bigger pool of donors - those hearts we used to strike off the list because they were too far away, a little older or less than perfect, and therefore more prone to deterioration, could now be suitable," Professor Graham said.
The chief executive officer of Transplant Australia,
Chris Thomas, said the new technique would open up opportunities for people living in remote areas, but organ donation rates in Australia were still low at about nine people per million.
"Australia still lags other comparable countries when it comes to organ donation. This development is very welcome, but the real challenge will be to double the number of people donating," he said. [
rc]
Copyright © 2009. Fairfax Digital
“The longer a donor heart lives outside the recipient, the more it will deteriorate, increasing the risk of injury or even death during transplantation, due to restricted blood flow,” the head of the institute, Bob Graham, said.
The drug solution has been tested on pigs, weighing up to 60 kilograms, but is yet to be tested on humans.
Forty-four hearts have been transplanted across Australia so far this year, including nine in NSW, but 90 people are still on the waiting list.
“In time, we will be able to draw from a bigger pool of donors - those hearts we used to strike off the list because they were too far away, a little older or less than perfect, and therefore more prone to deterioration, could now be suitable," Professor Graham said.
The chief executive officer of Transplant Australia, Chris Thomas, said the new technique would open up opportunities for people living in remote areas, but organ donation rates in Australia were still low at about nine people per million.
"Australia still lags other comparable countries when it comes to organ donation. This development is very welcome, but the real challenge will be to double the number of people donating," he said. [rc]
Copyright © 2009. Fairfax Digital
