Dallas-based Medical City Heart Hospital recently performed the first heart transplant using a new technique known as donation after cardiac death, or DCD, in Texas, the hospital said Dec. 15.
DCD procedures, which were first performed in the U.S. in January 2020, use a TransMedics system to keep hearts perfused with warm blood after the donor dies, keep the heart functional so it can be transplanted hours later.
"Many patients become too sick and die waiting for a heart," says Brian Lima, MD, surgical director of heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support at Medical City Heart Hospital. "The DCD heart transplant procedure could dramatically expand the donor pool in North Texas and give our team the opportunity to care for and improve more human lives."
The American College of Cardiology said DCD procedures have the potential to increase the donor pool by 30 percent.