Surgeons at a Sydney-based hospital have performed a miraculous feat – bringing ‘dead hearts’ back to life and using them in two successful transplants.

The surgical team at St Vincent’s Hospital Heart Lung Transplant Unit’s work could have helped to put an end to the shortage in the number of organs able to be donated – something which has the potential to transform countless lives. Their work – which was achieved thanks to research carried out in conjunction with the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute – has been described as the ‘biggest heart transplant breakthrough’ in a decade.

Professor Peter MacDonald, director of St Vincent’s Hospital Heart Lung Transplant Unit, confirmed that a ‘heart in a box’ machine called the ex vivo organ care system (OCS) coupled with a new preservation solution created by researchers at the hospital and the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute allowed the dead hearts to be brought back to life following circulatory death (DCD). These measures allow the heart to be “reanimated, preserved and assessed” until the recipient is ready to receive it.

One of the recipients of the hearts was Campsie-based Michelle Gribilar, 57, who was suffering from congenital heart failure. She now says she “feels like she is 40” following the procedure. “I was very sick before I had it. Now I’m a different person altogether”.