Judith Pena | May 16, 2023
Unusual! The hospital in the city of Padua, in Italy, performed the world’s first transplant of a heart that stopped beating for 20 minutes.
As reported, this is the first transplant that registers such long reactivation times of the heart muscle and gives hope for the use of hearts that have been left beating for such a long time (20 minutes).
“We have been the first in the world to demonstrate that a heart that has ceased all electrical activity for 20 minutes can be used for a heart transplant,” said Gino Gerosa, director of cardiac surgery in Padua.
Until now, heart transplants from a donor in cardiac arrest have been possible, but only 3 to 5 minutes after a flat electrocardiogram has been produced.
