Trial to boost transplant success

Only 135 hearts were recommended for transplant last year

A Cambridgeshire company has developed a machine which could improve heart donor success rates by 75%.

In the UK last year only 135 of 500 hearts recommended for transplants were still usable by the time they reached the operating table due to drug levels.

LiDCO, in Cambridge, has made the hemodynamic monitor, to show the levels of fluid and drugs needed to re-start a heart without irreparably damaging it.

Scientists involved with the trial say it should improve organ yield by 75%.

The trial will take place at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, America.

Healthy organs

Organisers of the Monitoring Organ Donors to Improve Transplantation Results (MOnITOR) trial using the monitor, claim their work will almost double the number of healthy organs available for transplant.

They believe they can develop a technique which will dispense with the need for drugs altogether and improve organ yield from 40% to 70%.

LiCDCO's heart rate monitors use a catheter inserted into the wrist to check arterial pressure and track blood flow into the heart.

The results are shown by visual imagery to the resuscitation team.