Heart failure is a growing health epidemic globally, and once developed, is irreversible and fatal.

Heart transplantation (HTx) is the most effective therapy to prolong life, however, there has been little innovation to address the severe shortage of donor hearts or improve preservation methods in decades, which still relies on placing donor hearts in ice slush during transport. This method provides limited transport time before the heart is at risk of poor function in the recipient, hence many donor hearts in Australia and New Zealand cannot be transplanted because the transport time is excessively long. Poor function of the donor heart once transplanted into the recipient is the major driver of morbidity and mortality after HTx.

The Living Heart Project represents the first major innovation in this field having developed the most advanced, clinically relevant model to examine the use of hypothermic ex vivo perfusion (HEVP), a novel means of preserving donor hearts. HEVP cools and perfuses donated hearts with an oxygenated solution, allowing it to remain outside the body for longer.

The technology and CCRG’s expertise were called upon in the world first xenotransplantation in Maryland, USA.