Using a new organ care system, doctors in Kazakhstan have completed the country’s second successful heart transplant. In a four-hour operation on Nov. 6, a heart from a donor in Almaty was transplanted into a 50-year-old heart patient in Astana.
TransMedic’s new Organ Care System, which uses a box to maintain organs in a warm and functioning state for up to 12 hours, was designed for countries like Kazakhstan, with large territories and lots of ground to cover. The system allows organs to be monitored continually and resuscitated after being removed from the donor. Prior to this, the new system had only been used in the United States, Australia and Germany.
Speaking about the transplant at a press conference, Chairman of the National Science Cardiac Centre Yuri Pya said, “For us, it is only the second heart transplant in a year and a half. In Croatia, for example, heart surgeons carry out up to 50 such operations. However, I think that over the past two years, transplantation in Kazakhstan has advanced significantly.”
The recipient of the heart is in intensive care and in stable condition. First Deputy Chairman of the National Science Cardiac Centre Makhabbat Bekbosynov said that the patient’s condition before the operation was critical and his prognosis unfavourable: 70% of patients in his condition would die within a year. His condition was complicated by concomitant diseases: chronic lung disease, diabetes and the initial stage of renal failure.
