Girl gets own heart back after donor organ removed
For the first time, surgeons have brought a young girl's original heart back to life after removing one she received in a transplant.
Heart transplant patient Hannah Clark, 12, of Mountain Ash, south Wales, had the pioneering surgery after her body rejected her "piggy-back" heart.
The complicated procedure was carried out by surgeons advised by heart specialist Sir Magdi Yacoub, who came out of retirement at the request of Hannah's parents, Paul and Elizabeth Clark.
The professor performed Hannah's original transplant operation 10 years ago when she was just two years of age.
That operation on February 20 saved her life because she had cardiomyopathy, which made her heart double the size it should have been and therefore likely to give out within a year.
Hannah's donor heart worked fine until last November when a routine visit to a cardiologist revealed that her body was rejecting it.
Her mother said surgeons at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London were initially reluctant to remove the donor heart and reconnect the dormant one because they said it had never been done before.
Weeks later, the transplant team agreed to perform the life-saving operation and, at the family's request, Sir Magdi provided surgeons with his expertise.
It is understood to be the first operation of its kind on a heart transplant patient.
Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation (BHF), hailed the operation as an "exciting and important event".
He said: "Surgeons like BHF Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub have thought for some time that if a heart is failing because of acute inflammation, it might be able to recover if rested.
"This seems to be exactly what has happened in this case. The piggy back heart allowed the patient's own heart to take a rest."
A spokesman for the cardiac team at Great Street Ormond Hospital said: "We are delighted that Hannah is doing so well.
"We believe that this combination of circumstances is the first for children or adults in the UK."
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