LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – For the first time, Baptist Health recently utilized the TransMedics Organ Care System, a revolutionary technology for preserving organs, in the treatment of end-stage heart failure.
Through the platform, Baptist Health physicians can maximize the potential of donor hearts while monitoring each organ throughout the entire process, ensuring that the heart transplant team can preserve a donor heart in an optimal condition.
The TransMedics Organ Care System was developed to improve upon limitations of cold storage preservation to increase donor heart utilization for transplantation. It creates conditions similar to the human body by keeping the heart warm, beating and perfused with blood.
Any heart transplant candidate who has been registered on the waiting list for a heart transplant may be eligible to receive a donor heart preserved using the TransMedics Organ Care System. You should fully discuss the different preservation methods and your alternatives with your heart transplant team.
The TransMedics Organ Care System is approved to be used for certain hearts from donors after cardiac or brain death. This is an alternative for cold storage for these donor hearts, providing a longer preservation time.
A patient’s heart transplant team will describe all steps necessary for the transplant procedure. Before surgery, a trained team will retrieve the donor heart. The donor heart will be placed in the TransMedics Organ Care System for preservation. The team will monitor the condition of the heart throughout the preservation period and report to a patient’s surgeon.
For more information about Baptist Health’s heart transplant program, visit Baptist-Health.com or call 1-888-BAPTIST.
About Baptist Health
For more than a century, Baptist Health has delivered all our best in health care through Christian compassion and innovative services. Baptist Health, Arkansas’ most comprehensive health care organization, is here For You. For Life. – with more than 250 points of access that include 12 hospitals; urgent care centers; a senior living community; over 100 primary and specialty care clinics; a college with studies in nursing and allied health; and a graduate residency program. It is also the largest private not-for-profit health care organization based in Arkansas, providing care through the support of approximately 11,000 employees, groundbreaking treatments, renowned physicians and community outreach programs. For more information about Baptist Health, visit Baptist-Health.com, call Baptist Health HealthLine at 1-888-BAPTIST or download the myBaptistHealth app.