13 Jun 2023 • A groundbreaking study, the Donors after Circulatory Death Heart Trial, has demonstrated that hearts reanimated using extracorporeal nonischemic perfusion after circulatory death are just as viable for transplantation as hearts preserved with traditional cold storage after brain death. 👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️

🔬 Conducted as a randomized, noninferiority trial involving 180 patients, the study revealed that risk-adjusted 6-month survival rates were 94% for hearts from circulatory-death donors and 90% for brain-death donors. 📈 No significant differences were found in serious adverse events associated with the heart graft at 30 days post-transplantation.

💪 These results pave the way for expanding the donor pool and offering hope to countless patients in need of heart transplants. The use of extracorporeal nonischemic perfusion provides an opportunity to reanimate and evaluate hearts, revolutionizing the field of heart transplantation. 🌟

🌐 This significant development brings us closer to addressing the pressing demand for heart transplants and improving patient outcomes. 🩺💙

Source: The New England Journal of Medicine | Read full story