Contact
Durham, NC – A Duke Health team was able to make the first replacement of Mitral Valve living in the world after a teenager received a complete heart transplant and donated the healthy valves of her original heart.
The valves were then used to save the lives of two other girls; one of which received the new procedure. The three girls who were part of the case come from different parts of North Carolina.
The current standard of care for replacing the pediatric heart valve uses preserved or mechanical non -alive fabric valves, which do not develop with the child. Consequently, beneficiaries need several surgeries for replacing valves and blood lights for mechanical valves, which both include risks.
“There is not a good valve option for children,” said Douglas Overbey, MDdeputy professor in the Surgery department has Duke University of Medicine School And one of the team members behind the pioneer procedure.
“They all require several surgeries, and we know they will fail on the road,” said Overbey. “It is something that is really difficult to talk to parents, knowing that you will have to do the same operation with a new valve, maybe six months later because they will exceed it.”
The first living replacement of the mitral valve was carried out on Margaret Van Bruggen, 14, of Charlotte. She received the dayni valve Kelly, 11, from Wilson, after Journi received a complete heart transplant. Journi also donated another valve to Kensley Frizzell, now aged 9, from Pembroke.
The living replacement of the mitral valve is a type of partial cardiac transplantationThat Duke was launched in 2022. Partial cardiac transplantation was studied in Duke Research Labs before the procedure, and research shows that living valves continue to grow. Duke has now carried out 20 partial cardiac transplants under the direction of the FDA.
The idea behind partial cardiac transplantation is to use the healthy valves from given hearts. The procedure expands the number of lives which benefit from a limited number of cores given and have allowed Domino Heart Transplantation Procedures, in which valves are used from a faulty heart after being removed for transplantation.
“Thinking that the life of three girls could be saved after a full -hearted donation is incredible,” said Joseph Turek, MD, Ph.D.Duke pediatric cardiac surgery, who carried out the procedure alongside a large team, after laboratory research.
Duke’s doctors said that the living valve’s living replacement was difficult due to the position and structure of the valve, and that it has risks commonly associated with heart surgery. The mitral valve is located inside and backwards, which makes access difficult. Its parachute -shaped structure with various chords and muscle grouping makes the suture more difficult.
The procedure has become a possibility in a unique confluence of circumstances, starting with Journi, which entered into sudden heart failure and needed a transplant.
The young person complained of a stomach pain, but when his parents took him to the emergency room, they learned that his heart was failing. Two days later, she was transported by plane to Duke for transplantation, where she waited on the list a new heart.
“Before day -to -day surgery, we were told that the doctors hoped to try a new procedure and we asked if we were ready to donate the old day of day,” said Rachel Kelly, Journi’s Stepmom. “They explained to us that they could use the healthy parts to help other children. Our next question was: “Where do we sign?” »»
While a given heart became available for dayni, the valves of his original heart were fortuitous a match for Margaret and Kensley. Margaret, a background runner and first -year student of the school, needed the replacement of the valve suddenly and urgently after having contracted a bacterial infection (endocarditis) which created large holes in its mitral valve.
“She was in the hospital and we could have lost her,” said Margaret’s mother Elizabeth Van Bruggen. “But she was so courageous, so I knew that I also had to be courageous. She has a lot to give the world. »»
Kensley’s family was delighted to learn that it could be the last surgical intervention they might need. The 9 -year -old man is experiencing long stays in the hospital, after having already known his first two operations before his first two months of life after receiving a diagnosis of a genetic disorder called Turner syndrome.
“We expected it to need surgery, but we didn’t know that it would be an option,” Kenan Frizzell said Kensley’s father. “The whole situation is extraordinary, whether you look at it from the point of view of a scientific breakthrough or from the point of view of the average person. I cannot imagine all the coordination which is necessary for something like this, but as one of the families who have benefited, we can not be anything other than grateful. »»
Research leading to surgical innovation was supported by the Brett Boyer Foundation and the Graeme McDaniel Foundation.