Normothermic extracorporeal preservation of hearts for transplantation following donation after brainstem death

The condition

Heart failure means your heart doesn't pump enough blood to meet all the needs of your body. Usually this is because the heart muscle has become damaged. The term 'chronic heart failure' is used to describe heart failure as a long‑term condition. The main symptoms of heart failure are breathlessness (either with exercise or at rest), feeling very tired and ankle swelling.

If you have chronic heart failure, your heart will need some help to do its job. Treatments include: drug treatment; treatment to bring the pumping action of the heart chambers back in time with each other (usually with a pacemaker or sometimes with a defibrillator); surgery, for example, to repair a faulty valve; or a heart transplant.

Usually, a heart for transplantation is removed from a donor who no longer has any activity in their brainstem (the part of the brain that controls breathing and heartbeat), and has permanently lost the potential for consciousness and the capacity to breathe on their own (brainstem death). This donor heart is then preserved in a cold, oxygen‑free environment until it is implanted into the recipient. Storing a heart in this way for a long time may damage it and affect how the heart works after the transplant.

NICE has looked at using normothermic extracorporeal preservation of hearts for transplantation following donation after brainstem death as another treatment option.

NHS Choices and NICE's information for the public about chronic heart failure may be a good place to find out more.