XVIVO is setting new standards in heart transplantation. In an ongoing clinical trial in Australia and New Zealand, a donor heart was preserved using Non Ischemic Heart Preservation technology for 7 hours and 18 minutes before successful transplantation into a 55-year-old man. By pushing the ideal time limit from less than 4 hours for traditional storage using ice to more than 7 hours using XVIVO’s technology, more lives will be saved.

To date, within this clinical trial, six heart transplants have been completed in Australia at The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne and St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney following extensive pre-clinical work at the Critical Care Research Group in Brisbane. The XVIVO heart technology preserves the heart at 8°C while supplying the heart with a nutrient-rich oxygenated solution. The purpose with the new method is to enable the function of a donated heart to be preserved for a longer time and transported longer distances which means that more hearts can be transplanted.

Cardiothoracic surgeon at The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne and co-principal investigator, Professor David McGiffin, says “If the trial demonstrates that the donor heart is better protected with ex-vivo perfusion as opposed to ice slush in a cooler, it could mean all donor hearts are transported using ex-vivo perfusion, no matter what distance.”

The Alfred’s director of cardiology and co-principal investigator, Professor David Kaye, said the patients involved in the trial had recovered well, which could be in part attributed to the nutrition and oxygen provided to the donor heart by the perfusion system.

The advancement follows four years of pre-clinical research led by the Critical Care Research Group (CCRG) in Brisbane led by Professor John Fraser. “It’s a credit to the teams in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. By working together across these great institutions, there is a very real chance that patients not just across Australia will benefit – but globally too,” Prof Fraser said. Professor Fraser says it is wonderful that the hard work of so many people has now translated into real human successes at The Alfred.

“The heart is the most sensitive organ for preservation outside the body and therefore we are very proud that the ongoing clinical trials in Europe, Australia and New Zealand are showing promising results. Setting new standards in life-extending technologies for organs is in our DNA. The XVIVO heart technology will make more organs available for more patients, and in turn save lives” says Dag Andersson, CEO XVIVO.

Please follow the link for the full article at The Alfred’s website:
https://www.alfredhealth.org.au/news/keeping-hearts-alive-outside-the-body/

October 18, 2021
Gothenburg
Dag Andersson, CEO
XVIVO Perfusion AB (publ.)

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