Heart

This study uses untransplantable hearts from organ donors as control samples. The team look at contractility, electrophysiology, calcium handling and pharmacological control (especially β-adrenoceptor function).

• Full Title: Structure and functional characterisation of human hearts
• Start Date: 1st April 2017
  
• Sponsor Organisation: Imperial College London
• ODT Study Number: 67

This study receives hearts that have been removed for transplantation and then deemed unsuitable. These hearts are offered to studies such as this one through the National Allocation Scheme.

Many hearts kindly offered for transplant are not used routinely as there is concern about how well they may work following the difficult transplant operation.

The purpose of this work is to improve our understanding of the impact of machine perfusion, at low temperature, but with blood containing oxygen.

This method mimics the natural blood supplied from a beating heart to itself. This will be compared with cold preservation in an ice bath. The team hopes to be able to:

• extend the acceptable duration of heart preservation prior to transplant
• develop tests so that we can better assess heart health and quality prior to transplantation
• extend these investigations to hearts donated after circulatory death, a field in which the UK leads the world
  
  

The results of this research will be used to improve safety while also reducing the amount of time patients spend on 'waiting lists' prior to transplantation.

• Full Title: Evaluation of Hypothermic Oxygenated Perfusion (HOP) Ex-Vivo Heart Perfusion to Expand the Donor Pool and Improve Transplant Outcomes
• Start Date: 23rd May 2019
  
• Sponsor Organisation: Newcastle University
• ODT Study Number: 83
• Study Website: Blood and Transplant Research Unit in ODT
• Specialist Nurse Team facilitating study-specific consent: Northern (and Yorkshire, when cross-covering)
  
  

This study can receive hearts that have been removed for transplantation and then deemed unsuitable. These hearts are offered to studies such as this one through the National Allocation Scheme.

This study can also receive hearts from organ donors where their heart has been deemed untransplantable before removal, is also unsuitable for heart valves, and their family have given consent.

Removal of the heart specifically for this research study can only occur in selected local hospitals:

• Freeman Hospital, Newcastle
• Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle
• James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough
• Friarage Hospital, Northallerton
• Sunderland Royal Hospital, Sunderland
• Darlington Memorial Hospital, Darlington
• University of North Durham Hospital, Durham

Heart transplantation from donation after circulatory determined death (DCD) donors has recently been shown to be a reliable, reproducible and safe method to increase heart transplant activity by over 40% at Royal Papworth Hospital.

In the absence of co-located donors and recipients, DCD heart transplantation is reliant upon normothermic ex-situ machine perfusion to recondition the donor hearts during transportation.

The team is evaluating a research tool capable of ex-situ machine perfusion of donor hearts.

• Full Title: Reconditioning the Donor Heart using Ex Situ Normothermic Machine Perfusion (ES-NMP)
• Start Date: 25th July 2019
  
• Sponsor Organisation: Royal Papworth Hospital
• ODT Study Number: 76
• Specialist Nurse Team facilitating study-specific consent: Eastern (and London when cross-covering)
  
  

This study receives hearts from organ donors where their heart has been deemed untransplantable before removal, and with consent from their family. Removal of the heart specifically for this research study can only occur in selected local hospitals:

• Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge
• Norfolk & Norwich University Hospitals, Norwich