Heart transplants best within 4 hours

Chennai: If any heart is kept for over four hours after harvesting it’s not viable for transplantation.

If transplanted after four or five hours, then the success rate of transplantation will be very low, say cardiologists in the city.

“That’s the reason green corridors are formed to quickly transport the harvested heart,” said a cardiologist at a government hospital.

At present, once a heart is harvested, it stays fresh in the cooler only for four hours and then it starts to deteriorate, says Dr R. Ravi Kumar, senior interventional cardiologist at Global Health City.

“The heart doesn’t get oxygen or blood inside the box and if it’s not transplanted within the stipulated time then the organ is wasted,” he added

India has a long way to go to keep the donor’s heart recuperating for 10 hours.

“If we can actually do that - keep the heart beating outside for many hours - then we can transport the organ from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and perform the transplantation,” says Dr K.R. Balakrishnan, director of cardiac sciences of Fortis Malar Hospital.

Experiments are being undertaken in the US to keep the heart beating outside the human body.

Surgeons in Europe in 2006 transplanted the first heart using the TransMedics Organ Care System, a portable device that kept the heart alive during transport.

“Both the lungs and heart are being transported in the same way in the US. But, in our country, we can make use of helicopter service to transport the organs though it’s quite costly,” said Dr Balakrishnan.

Experts point out that if a heart can survive outside the body for many hours then many more patients can be saved.

“We might make use of new technologies in future,” they said.