World-first ‘living tissue’ partial heart transplant saves newborn baby

‘He was basically already in heart failure, pretty much right out the gate,’ mother says

A partial heart transplant using living tissue, thought to be the first in the world, has saved a newborn baby.

Owen Monroe was born in April of this year at Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina with a lethal heart condition. Four months after the surgery, his parents say his recovery is going well.

Following his birth, Owen was diagnosed with truncus arteriosus – meaning that two of the arteries entering his heart had been fused together, Duke Health has said. One of the valves in his heart also had a leak. His parents were told that he was in need of a transplant.

Owen Monroe was born in April 2022 at Duke University Hospital in North Carolina (Screenshot / Duke University Hospital)

“I think once we were told the situation, and that we didn’t have time to wait for a full heart — he was basically already in heart failure, pretty much right out the gate,” mother Tayler Monroe said in a video produced by Duke Health.

“There wasn’t really many options, so it was basically like, if something happened, we would resuscitate him and hope for the best,” she added.

Ms Monroe said she spoke to her husband about whether Owen could be a donor for other newborn children. She said it was “probably the hardest conversation you can ever have as a parent”.

The chief of pediatric cardiac surgery at the hospital, Dr Joseph Turek, said in the hospital’s video that it usually takes about six months to find a heart for a baby of that age.

“Even though we had him listed for a normal heart transplant, we suspected we weren’t gonna make it that far,” he said.

The parents chose to proceed with a partial heart transplant using living tissue. Dr Turek noted that if the tissue was not living, it wouldn’t grow with Owen but that living tissue could extend his life as it grows with him.

“And it’s important for these kids to only have one operation, if at all possible,” Dr Turek added. “It’s a lot on a family, it’s a lot on a child, to have one heart surgery, let alone to have multiple heart surgeries over a lifespan.”

Tissue from the heart of a donor was used during the procedure. The donor heart couldn’t be used for a full transplant because while the valves were in a good condition, the muscles were not as healthy.

The doctor said Owen was able to leave the hospital a few weeks after the procedure.

“Both of his valves, now four-and-a-half months after his operation, are growing. They’re fully competent. They don’t leak at all,” Dr Turek said.

He added that there don’t seem to be any harmful side effects.

Ms Monroe said the procedure was “miraculous”.

“The fact that not only he’s okay, but he’s thriving, really gives a lot of hope for future babies that have to go through this. All of his doctors are beyond thrilled with how he’s doing,” the mother said.

According to CBS News, the pediatric transplant cardiologist for Owen, Dr Michael Carboni, an associate professor at the Department of Pediatrics at the Duke University School of Medicine, said that “what’s particularly remarkable about this procedure, is that not only is this innovation something that can extend the lives of children, but it makes use of a donated heart that would otherwise not be transplantable”.