One of medicine’s deepest frustrations has been the heart that cannot be used. After circulation stops, donor hearts deteriorate rapidly, leaving most unfit for transplant. Traditional solutions—restarting the heart in the donor’s body or preserving it in costly perfusion machines—have been either ethically controversial or too expensive.
New recovery technique brings dead donor hearts back to life without reanimation
Now, scientists at Vanderbilt University have unveiled REUP (rapid recovery with extended ultra-oxygenated preservation), a technique that could shift the paradigm. Instead of reanimating, REUP uses a chilled, oxygen-rich solution to preserve the organ immediately after death, keeping it viable for up to eight hours. The approach is simpler, cheaper, and early trials show transplant outcomes equal to current standards.
For India, the implications are immense. Cardiovascular disease is the nation’s leading killer, and more than 50,000 patients wait for a heart each year. Yet fewer than 200 heart transplants are performed annually, constrained by fragile donor organs and limited resources. By removing both cost and ethical hurdles, REUP could make far more hearts available, especially in lower-resource settings.
A technique born in a U.S. lab may one day help Indian patients hear the heartbeat of hope—strong, steady, and alive again.