UPMC performs first beating heart transplant procedure...( nsMedics Inc. to begin the pilot phase ...),Health

nsMedics Inc. to begin the pilot phase of a trial of the investigational device exemption at five centers in the United States. In addition to UPMC, other centers participating include Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, the University of Chicago Hospitals Cardiac Center, and the Cleveland Clinic Heart and Vascular Institute. Twenty patients will be enrolled in this phase of the PROCEED trial.

This technology has the potential to greatly reduce ischemic injury to the transplanted organ by enabling the organ to continue to be perfused and oxygenated with its own blood supply. The current standard of preserving a transplanted organ is cold preservation. In this approach the organ is initially perfused with a cold solution and then packed in sterile ice.

Ischemic injury occurs during the period between the donor and the recipient surgeries. During this time the organ is without blood or oxygen, which may cause injury to the transplanted organ, which may ultimately lead to rejection.

Results of the European PROTECT -1 Trial using the OCS were reported at the 27th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Heart Lung Transplantation in San Francisco last month. Results from the European study showed success with the device in 20 heart transplants with 30-day graft and patient survival at 100 percent.

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Contact: Maureen McGaffin
McGaffinME@upmc.edu
412-647-3555
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
17-May-2007

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