Heart in a box' invention allows transplant hearts to remain outside the body for 12 hours

Plain Dealer | Diane Suchetka


TransMedics' Organ Care System, Heart in a Box TransMedics' Organ Care System, called Heart in a Box, keeps blood and oxygen flowing through a heart after its been removed from the donor and before it's been transplanted. The system allows hearts to remain outside the body for 12 hours as opposed to four. Video courtesy of TransMedics

The problem: Hearts for transplant must be transported from donor to recipient within about four hours before complications begin to develop. The hearts are placed on ice inside picnic coolers for the drive or flight from one hospital to another. That means traffic jams, bad weather and mechanical problems can cause such serious delays that a heart ends up being wasted. It means the heart can be damaged when it's warmed up at the end of the surgery. And it means the heart can't be put through a battery of tests to see how well it works until after it's been transplanted. That's a big problem for patients receiving new hearts. Five percent to 7 percent of hearts end up not working after they've been transplanted. Those patients have to undergo major surgery again -- and risk death -- sometimes days after the original surgery.

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