An advanced device to make the transport of the donor heart increasingly safer as it ensures stable cooling of the organ and real-time monitoring of temperature and position. It was purchased by the Polyclinic of Bari thanks to Pnrr funds and was immediately used by the cardiac surgery unit, directed by professor Tomaso Bottioto collect the heart of a donor from Reggio Calabria.
“Four hours – explains Bottio – is the maximum time that can pass from the removal of the heart from the donor to its transplantation into the recipient. In this time of ischemia, in which the organ is deprived of the natural supply of blood and oxygen, it is It is essential that the same organ is kept at a constant temperature. This new device allows us to standardize the storage variables and provides doctors who collect and transport the heart with real-time monitoring of times, temperature and exact geolocation”.
The transport device is particularly important when the heart organ is taken outside the region or outside the southern macro area, and last year the heart surgeons of the Polyclinic of Bari moved 42 times, 23 times to the north, 16 outside Puglia and 3 times they went abroad for collection. “Thanks to the organization of the Regional Transplant Center and the professionalism of Professor Bottio and his young team of cardiac surgeons, who are ready to travel at any time, the Polyclinic of Bari in 2023 was the first center in Italy in terms of number of heart transplants. With this innovation in transport we will improve the safety and outcomes of heart transplants, helping to save more lives”, concludes the general director of the Bari Polyclinic, Antonio Sanguedolce.
