Journal of Clinical Case Reports

Reconditioning of a Heart Allograft after Interrupted Procurement with Machine Perfusion: A Case Report

Abstract

Ivan Novokhatskiy*, Achim Koch, Nikolaus Pizanis, Simon Wernhart, Lars Michel, Payam Akhyari and Markus Kamler

Heart donation rates lag behind a growing number of recipients. Therefore, transplant programs increasingly accept organs from extended criteria donors. Donor age ≥ 47 years and allograft ischaemic time ≥ 2-4 hours are linearly associated with a higher risk of death at 1 year after heart transplantation. Ex vivo Machine Perfusion (MP) of heart allografts offers the opportunity to evaluate and optimize extended criteria donor hearts, while also reducing cold ischemic time, with the aim to maximize eligible allograft pool. We describe a case of cancellation of the ongoing procurement due to acute donor instability and subsequent evaluation and successful reconditioning of the heart with MP.