“Heart in a box” gives Daniels new life

The Daily World | Jake Schild
(Jake Schild | The Daily World) Ted Daniels received a new heart using an Organ Care System, a new technology that allows organs to be kept alive while being transported to patients in need of a transplant. 

Ted Daniels wasn’t ready to “check out yet,” he says with an amiable chuckle as he recalls his September heart transplant surgery.

Daniels, 47, received a new heart this fall after struggling with congestive heart failure for the past 10 years. But, Daniels’ transplant wasn’t an ordinary one; the Aberdeen resident received the organ using a new technology called Organ Care System, or, as Daniels calls it, “heart in a box.”

Daniels was first in the nation to receive an “expanded criteria heart” with the machine, which has the ability to keep donated organs alive and functioning while being transported to their recipient. The OCS has been used to transplant more than 250 hearts worldwide.

Daniels was the first patient in the “EXPAND HEART” clinical trial, which is evaluating transplanting expanded criteria donor hearts, including those that may be too distant or may not meet current standard criteria for heart transplantation.

The OCS keeps hearts pumping and blood flowing through the organ while waiting to be placed in a patient. The device is revolutionary in the sense that it can keep hearts and other organs ready for transplant longer, meaning they can travel farther to get to patients in need. Continue reading

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