A year after the first partial-heart transplant recipient underwent surgery, the transplanted tissues of the toddler appear to be excellently functioning and are even growing with the baby's body.
World's First Partial-Heart Transplant
Owen Monroe was the recipient of the world's first partial-heart transplant in a novel procedure conducted in Spring 2022. Back then, Owen was just 18 days old. His surgery was led by Dr. Joseph Turek, who was the chief of pediatric cardiac surgery at Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center.
Prior to birth, Owen was found to have a heart malformation wherein only one large blood vessel was there to carry blood from the heart. This was in contrast to the usual two small ones that are found in the hearts of humans.
Because Owen only had one outflow vessel, the amount of blood that was dumped into the lungs increased. This made it harder to breathe. Moreover, it also dampened the blood quantities that flowed throughout the body. The single outgoing blood vessel in Owen also had leaks, which made the problem worse.
For his malformation to be treated, a full heart transplant or heart valve implant transplant was necessary. The former may have required too long a period to find an organ donor. As for the latter, the implants, which were typically taken from organ donors who are deceased, required frequent replacement. Each subsequent surgery also poses a risk to the life of the infant.
However, the parents and doctors of Owen decided to push through with a third option that has only been tested among pigs. The arteries and valves that were used in the partial-heart transplant of Owen were from a 2-day-old baby girl who died after a complex delivery and whose heart was immediately donated after she died. The heart muscles of the donor were not sufficiently healthy for a full-heart transplant. However, she still had outflow valves that were structurally normal and functioned excellently.
The heart tissues, which were still living, were then transplanted into Owen during an eight-hour surgery. After 30 days post-surgery, Owen was discharged from the hospital. His doctors noted that Owen required a lower dosage of immune-suppressing drugs that were typically required for recipients of full heart transplants.
A Year Post-Surgery
His doctors recently reported that since the surgery, Owen's transplanted valves had grown in size along with the rest of his heart. Owen has also been hitting all necessary developmental milestones, including crawling, standing, searching for objects, and making sounds.
Since Owen's surgery, 13 more similar partial-heart transplants have been done at four medical centers all over the world. Most surgeries were performed at Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center, where Owen also had his surgery. Some cases were "domino heart transplants," wherein a patient with weak but healthy valves gets a full heart transplant, and their healthy valves get donated to someone else.
Dr. Turke explains that among all donated hearts, around half meet the standard for being used for a full heart transplant. Nevertheless, they think that there is an equal count of hearts that can be utilized for valves. Dr. Turek adds that if the donated hearts that were not used in the supply chain were introduced and if the valves from the domino heart transplants were added, substantial change could result.
RELATED ARTICLE: Pig Heart Transplant Performed For the 2nd Time in the World With Hopes of Prolonging Dying Man's Life
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