4 | MUSChealth.org/heart MUSC HEALTH HEART & VASCULAR CENTER “I remember waking up with a new heart and thinking, ‘I’m still alive,’” said Norman McGill, 54. “The whole thing is a miracle.” Throughout a long night last October, a team of cardiothoracic surgeons at MUSC Health, led by Dr. Arman Kilic, made history when doctors transplanted the first heart in South Carolina obtained by donation after circulatory death (DCD) into Norman. Despite other forms of intervention, Norman’s damaged heart was barely beating. In medical terms, he was in persistent end-stage heart failure, and he had ventricular tachycardia, which can be a fatal irregular heartbeat. A mechanical pump supported him, but, even with that help, Norman needed a transplant. He had been in the hospital for two months hoping for a miracle. Norman’s miracle unfolded when Dr. Kilic, the John M. Kratz Endowed Chair in Cardiac Surgery in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, and the MUSC Health team partnered with Transmedics, a medical device company that created a machine that keeps organs functional and healthy during their journey from donor to recipient. “I knew they were making history,” said Norman’s mother, Lillie. “They showed me a picture of the heart beating in a little suitcase.” “The little suitcase” Lillie referenced aptly describes Transmedics’ ex vivo perfusion system. It looks like a clear, tube-infused suitcase that cradles the donor heart. The Transmedics system is designed to mimic the human body, which likely contributes to better organ function right away, Dr. Kilic explained. In addition, by keeping blood flowing to the organ and keeping it warm, the machine allows more time to gain access to organs. With the traditional method of keeping a heart cooled on ice, the maximum safe travel time is around four hours, which limits the distance a donated organ can travel for transplantation. But with the Transmedics system, donated hearts can come from much longer distances, and Dr. Kilic shared that some centers have successfully transplanted organs donated on one side of the country and then transported to the other. ‘THE WHOLE THING IS A MIRACLE’ Cohesive Partnerships Made Historic MUSC Transplant Possible Transmedics’ ex vivo perfusion system
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