Partial heart transplants: What to know

Fewer than 50 people have undergone partial heart transplants, but the procedure is emerging as a potential solution to the increase in discarded organs and growing transplant waiting list, according to an Aug. 27 report from The New York Times. 

More than 2,000 children and 100,000 adults in the U.S. are on the transplant waiting list, but many donor organs are not suitable for a full transplant, the report said. An estimated 43% of donor hearts are not used. 

For heart transplants, partial transplants may offer an opportunity to close the gap. 

In 2022, clinicians at Durham, N.C.-based Duke Health performed the world’s first successful partial heart transplant. The operation fused the arteries and valves from a donated heart onto the existing heart of Owen Monroe, who was 17 days old at the time with a heart the size of a strawberry. 

Since then, teams at other institutions have performed the operation, including UT Health Austin and Dell Children’s Medical Center in Texas and Boston Children’s, which might have been the site of the first elective partial heart transplant. Fewer than 10 U.S. hospitals offer the procedure, according to the Times. 

A Duke University-led study published Aug. 27 in JAMA examined the safety and effectiveness of partial heart transplants in 19 patients. Across a median follow-up of six months, all valves functioned well and demonstrated growth, and no significant immunosuppression complications were observed. 

Partial heart transplants are often “domino” operations, in which one patient receives a total heart transplant and their old heart is distributed among others. 

Because the operations are relatively new, more research is needed to determine long-term success. Among eight partial heart transplant recipients at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in New York City, most developed antibodies against the donated valve, according to the Times. 

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