Surgeons develop 2 ways to ‘restart’ hearts without a donor’s body
A pair of new procedures could make it more viable to use hearts from a much wider supply of donors. Image: CAROL YEPES / Getty Images
Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday.Cardiac surgeons have discovered two novel techniques that may improve doctors’ ability to “reanimate” hearts after the death of a donor. In one procedure, which successfully saved the life of a 3-month-old child transplant recipient, oxygenated blood is pumped into an extracted heart while it rests on a surgical table, eventually causing it to “wake up” and beat again. The other technique involves flushing a cold solution of liquid and preservatives into a heart before surgeons remove it from the donor’s body. Both methods could potentially open up new, cost-effective approaches for recovering viable...
