Update.10.8.2015

We had an appointment on Wednesday, September 30th, at the UWMC with Heidi, Dr. Masri's PA.  While there, we were asked by Dr. Smith if we were interested in being part of another clinical trial headed by Dr. Smith, one of the transplant surgeons.  This one involves a new way to transport donor hearts and allows hearts from more hours away.  Currently, only hearts three or four hours away from the hospital are used for transplants.  The statistics are that only 30% of good donor hearts are used because they cannot reach a transplant hospital in the time allowed by the current method.  There are 5,000 good donor hearts each year in the US that go to waste for the above reason.  The big advantage to joining the trial is that it could shorten John's waiting time for a new heart.

Today, we signed up for the clinical trial.  We had hoped, because of the extra time available to transport organs, that we might be able to be more than the normal three hours away from the hospital.  Unfortunately, the three hour time frame will still be in effect because local hearts will still be transported the old way.

The Portable Organ Care System has been used in Europe, Canada, and Australia for a few years.  The UWMC is the first in the United States to use it, starting just three weeks ago.  The UWMC has used it three times, two have been implanted successfully and are doing well.  The third heart was rejected after it was transported, before implanted.  We are the 16th in the clinical trial at UWMC.  There are six other hospitals in the US which are ramping up to join this clinical trial.

Now, the transplant team can use hearts from Hawaii, north parts of Alaska and the Midwest of the US.  Our hope is that joining the trial will get a new heart earlier. 

http://www.king5.com/story/news/health/2015/09/16/heart-transplant-transmedics-uw/72341890/    is a site with a news account of the new device.  You will need to copy and paste the address into your browser address block.

Colleen and John