First beating heart transplant conducted

Pittsburgh -- The first U.S. transplant of a beating heart was performed on a 47-year-old Pennsylvania man with congestive heart failure.

The surgery was performed last month in the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Presbyterian in Oakland, Pa., the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said Friday.

The patient, who is from Portage, Pa., is doing well and has been discharged from the hospital. The donated heart, which came from a 46-year-old man, was maintained in a beating state on the experimental Organ Care System for two hours and 45 minutes, the hospital said in a news release.

The surgery, performed by Dr. Kenneth R. McCurry, was conducted as part of a trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of the system for heart transplants. The system is manufactured by TransMedics Inc. of Andover, Mass.

The hospital said the technology has the potential to greatly reduce blood-loss injury to the transplanted organ by enabling the organ to continue to be perfused and oxygenated with its own blood supply.

TransMedics is working on similar machines to sustain other organs, such as lungs, livers and kidneys, the newspaper said.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.