On Aug. 11, LifeCenter Northwest, the Organ Procurement Organization for Washington, and UW Medicine’s heart transplant team together facilitated the Pacific Northwest’s first donation-after-circulatory-death (DCD) heart transplant.
The patient, Ryan Stovall, 48, a resident of Beaver Creek, Oregon, is recovering well in Seattle.
For decades, only donor hearts from patients who experienced brain death have been transplanted; hearts from patients who experienced circulatory death were deemed less predictable in terms of their long-term viability. The game-changer was technology that keeps blood and nutrients pulsing through donor hearts after recovery and during transit. It enables doctors to closely monitor the organs’ health and ensure suitability for transplant.
