Successful transplantation of hearts harvested 30 minutes after death from exsanguination

The donor pool for heart transplants is severely limited. Unfortunately, many trauma patients who might be donors die of exsanguination before their organs can be used. We tested whether hearts "dead" for one half hour after exsanguination could be used as heart transplants in 8 lambs (mean weight, 8 kg). Four lambs were exsanguinated by severing the subclavian artery while simultaneously infusing intravenous saline solution to mimic resuscitation attempts. All animals died. Thirty minutes after hypotensive arrest and death, simulating the time needed to secure donation permission, the heart was harvested, perfused with 250 mL of cold cardioplegia containing 200,000 units of streptokinase to dissolve intravascular clots, and stored in iced saline solution for a mean of 1.5 hours while 4 recipient lambs were prepared for operation. After bypass and recipient heart excision, the "dead" donor heart was transplanted orthotopically. The heart was reperfused with low flow (25 mL/min), low pressure (30 mm Hg), low hematocrit (hematocrit, 0.08 to 0.12) blood supplemented with prostaglandin E1 and nifedipine for 15 minutes, followed by full flow rewarming for 45 minutes. All hearts resumed normal contractions. All animals were weaned from bypass without inotropes. Pressures a half hour after bypass were (in mm Hg): aorta, 80 +/- 10; pulmonary artery, 20 +/- 5; right atrium, 9 +/- 5; and left atrium, 9 +/- 2. We conclude that hearts "dead" for one half hour after exsanguination are capable of being reanimated and used successfully as donor organs. With further development, this method could potentially greatly expand the donor heart pool.