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New Technique Preserves Hearts After Circulatory Death Without Resuscitation or Expensive Machines, Solving Ethical Dilemmas and Expanding the Supply of Organs
A new technique could completely change heart transplants. For the first time, scientists have managed to preserve donor hearts after circulatory death (DCD) without reviving the organ or using expensive machines. The achievement was made by a team from Vanderbilt University in the United States.
Heart transplants from DCD have always been a challenge. The available methods faced high costs or ethical issues.
In some countries, it is prohibited to revive the heart within the donor’s body. Extracorporeal perfusion systems, which simulate the functioning of the heart outside the body, are costly and inaccessible in many places.
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A New Alternative
In light of this, the Vanderbilt researchers created a new alternative. The technique, called REUP — short for rapid recovery with prolonged ultra-oxygenated preservation — proposes a different approach.
Instead of trying to make the heart beat again, REUP uses a cold, oxygen-rich solution to preserve the organ immediately after death.
The procedure is simpler, cheaper, and avoids ethical dilemmas. “It is something that has never been successfully done in the field of cardiac transplantation,” said Dr. Aaron Williams, the lead author of the study.
He believes that the method could be adopted worldwide and transform the way transplants are performed.
Since November 2024, the Vanderbilt team has already used REUP in 20 successful transplants. The results, according to the researchers, are within the standards currently practiced.
The new method addresses two of the biggest barriers to DCD transplants: the cost of machines and the ethical issues of resuscitation. This could free up hundreds of viable hearts each year, especially in resource-limited areas.
According to Williams, the idea arose from the limitations of the two traditional methods. “We have all been thinking about these issues for some time. As a team, we created this cardiac preservation solution that helps revive and protect hearts with DCD so they can be used for transplant,” he explained.
The functioning of REUP is straightforward. The cold solution, composed of concentrated red blood cells, del Nido cardioplegia, and other additives, is delivered to the donor’s heart immediately after death.
This prevents cellular deterioration, reduces inflammation, and keeps the tissue viable without the organ beating again.
With this technique, hearts can remain in good condition for up to eight hours. This represents an advantage over previous methods, which required very short time limits for transport and use of the organ.
Previously, many DCD hearts were discarded due to fragile conditions or the distance to the receiving hospital.
Before 2020, Vanderbilt itself only accepted donors with brain death. Now, the center stands out as a reference in DCD transplants. REUP is the latest innovation on this path.
In the future, scientists hope to adapt the technique for other organs, such as livers, kidneys, and lungs. There is also an expectation of use in pediatric transplants.
The discovery represents a promising advancement in the field of transplant medicine.
With information from Interesting Engineering.
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