Heart transplant breakthrough !

Australia's low number of heart transplants is not entirely due to lack of donors.   When a donor heart does become available a desperate race against the clock will decide if a life can be saved.   Firstly, pathology must match up the suitability of the donor heart with the genetics of the person who will receive that organ - and that person must be available for immediate surgery.   In most cases - all that must happen within just four hours.

Compatibility is critically important to any organ transplant, hence this limits the availability to a distance circle between where the donation occurs and which patients are immediately available.    Those on the waiting list are required to have a mobile phone and be ready for an instant dash to the hospital.  This four hour factor precludes the matching of patients and donor when one is in Sydney and the other in Perth.   Even when both are in the same state,  meeting the deadline is not always possible.

It is a tragedy when a donor heart can not save a life because of the time factor limitations.  It is good news that the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute has made a breakthrough in extending this transplant time window.   They have successfully trialed a cocktail of drugs that has extended the viability of donor hearts from four - to fourteen hours.

This promises to greatly improve successful transplants and lower the chances of rejection.   It gives more time for the genetic matching and extends the range of distance.   Getting the right organ into the right patient's body will now be much easier to achieve.

Heart research and breast cancer top the list of medical donations from the public and it is these sort of breakthroughs that keep the money flowing.   Eventually, science may perfect an artificial heart that makes donor hearts unnecessary, but in today's world the number of people living a useful and happy life with a donor heart beating in their chest is the pinnacle of success in medical progress.

That is the sort of news that impels more people to sign on to be a heart donor !