Canada’s first ‘heart in a box’ transplant revives patient
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Raj Mittal of London, Ontario received a heart transplant in February using a new technology that keeps donor hearts viable for longer.
After experiencing cardiac arrest and pneumonia, Mittal was added to Ontario’s transplant list and later received a heart preserved in an Organ Care System, a device made by TransMedics. This “heart in a box” kept the organ warm and pumping blood, extending its potential lifespan to 12 hours, double the time possible with traditional ice storage.
The London Health Sciences Centre performed the transplant, making Mittal the first Canadian to benefit from this method. Previously, hearts revived with this technology had only been transplanted into American patients. The device allows doctors to assess the heart’s function while it’s still pumping outside the body, and it can even revive hearts that have stopped beating, increasing the number of usable donor organs.
Ontario Health funded the acquisition of the Organ Care System, and the Trillium Gift of Life Network collaborated to implement the technology. Rashmi Nedadur, a cardiac surgeon at the hospital, travelled to retrieve the donor heart and confirmed its viability before successfully transplanting it into Mittal. Now recovering at home, Mittal is regaining his strength and hopes to return to work and cycling with his children.
