Preexcitation syndrome in a donor heart

Successful ex vivo correction of preexcitation syndrome (Wolff-Parkinson-White type A) was performed in a donor heart before orthotopic heart transplantation. The transplant recipient recovered without incident. Postoperative electrophysiologic study confirmed successful operative ablation of the aberrant conduction pathway. Donor hearts with certain readily correctable anomalies may be considered for transplantation and thus help to lessen the shortage of donor organs.