Earlier this month, Professor David Kaye of The Alfred in Melbourne, Australia, presented late breaking science at the American Heart Association (AHA) 2022 meeting in Chicago from an ongoing study of extended transport time of donor hearts. The impressive results showed that in the first 20 study patients transplanted with donor hearts perfused with the XVIVO heart technology there was no mortality despite very extended transport times, up to 8 hours and 47 minutes.
XVIVO’s technology for non-ischemic heart technology consists of a heart preservation device, a disposable set and a proprietary solution. The Australian and New Zealand Investigator-Initiated Multicenter trial of Extended (6-8 hours) Non-Ischemic Heart Preservation (NIHP) of Donor Hearts for Transplantation is running across 5 sites and is expected to include the last patient at end of 2022. Professors David Kaye and David McGiffin of The Alfred are Principal Investigators.
“Aside from the potential damage that can occur when hearts are preserved using cold static storage, the other issue for countries with large geographical areas such as Australia and New Zealand is long ischemic times where donor hearts may be declined because the projected ischemic time might be unacceptably long”, says Professor David Kaye and continues “primary graft dysfunction, PGD, is a known complication that increases when ischemic time is prolonged. Therefore, extension of the safe preservation time well beyond today’s 4-6 hour limit could safely provide more donor hearts for transplantation without the increased risk of PGD after transplantation. The Australia and New Zealand study has shown no mortality in the first 20 cases and only 1 episode of right ventricular primary graft dysfunction requiring temporary mechanical support despite the very extended ischemic times.” The abstract with the details of the data presented at the AHA 2022 meeting can be found as an appendix to the press release.
“It is very encouraging to see the preliminary data presented by Professor Kaye, which is an important milestone in expanding the clinical evidence on our technology for non-ischemic heart preservation. We see significant opportunities to safely prolong preservation times of donated hearts, which will have a huge impact on the logistically challenging process of heart transplantation and ultimately make more hearts available for transplantation” says Christoffer Rosenblad, Acting CEO of XVIVO.
November 24, 2022
Gothenburg
Christoffer Rosenblad, Acting CEO
XVIVO Perfusion AB (publ)