An innovative cold storage system for donor heart transportation—lessons learned from the first experience in Switzerland

A theory of relativity in donor organ ischemia

“…Beyond the obvious priority for cannulating within the warm ischemia limits of a DCD, there are often simple and straightforward opportunities for shaving off minutes of ischemic time such as an expedited departure from the donor hospital, meticulous coordination with the air and ground transport teams, and selection of the optimal transport strategy. Operational efficiency in transporting the donor, although often overlooked, represents the primary focus of a growing number of ventures which were recently formed to address this problem 11–14 . Perhaps with the regulatory approval of drone delivery, surgeons will once again enjoy the benefits of performing the pulmonary arterial anastomosis on an arrested heart.…”

“…Operational efficiency in transporting the donor, although often overlooked, represents the primary focus of a growing number of ventures which were recently formed to address this problem. [11][12][13][14] Perhaps with the regulatory approval of drone delivery, surgeons will once again enjoy the benefits of performing the pulmonary arterial anastomosis on an arrested heart.…”

Outcomes of Heart Transplantation Using a Temperature-controlled Hypothermic Storage System

“…The Food and Drug Administration–cleared SherpaPak Cardiac Transport System (Paragonix Technologies, Braintree, MA) is a novel technology that provides stable, optimal hypothermic control during organ transport. 15-17 It has been hypothesized that this improvement in organ preservation condition during transport has the potential to impact organ quality and consequently patient outcomes while allowing surgeons to accept donor organs from significantly more remote geographic locations. The objectives of this study were to describe our experience with this temperature-controlled hypothermic storage system and to compare early outcomes after heart transplantation after using this novel technology versus SCS method for organ preservation and transportation.…”

Better Than Ice: Advancing the Technology of Donor Heart Storage With the Paragonix SherpaPak

“…Retrospective single-center experiences with Sherpapak technology have been reported by a small number of centers in recent years. [13][14][15][16][17] Early results from the GUARDIAN Registry were presented at the 2022 annual meeting of the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation. 18 At that time, the registry included data from 11 participating heart transplant centers in the United States, with a cohort of 156 patients receiving organs preserved with conventional cold storage (control), and 227 receiving organs preserved with the SherpaPak.…”

“…Retrospective single-center experiences with Sherpapak technology have been reported by a small number of centers in recent years. 13–17…”