Durham Reporter

Duke Health researchers this week performed what is thought to be the world’s first partial heart transplant in a five-pound newborn.

"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,” Dr. Michael Carboni told WTVD of the procedure. 

Owen Monroe, of Lillington, was born with truncus arteriosus, a condition in which two main arteries are fused. He was just 17 days old and had developed the condition in utero. The condition was likely to be fatal unless doctors could find a solution.

When a person suffers from truncus arteriosus, oxygen-poor blood and oxygen-rich blood get mixed, ultimately requiring far too much blood to pump into the body, making the heart work overtime.

In Owen's circumstance, it was unlikely that the child would have survived a full transplant, because one of his blood vessels also had a leaky valve. He ended up needing two new valves and two new blood vessels.

This partial transplant takes living arteries and valves from a freshly donated heart and fuses them onto a patient's existing heart. The goal of the procedure is to increase life expectancy.

Carboni said doctors can learn from this and build new processes, or use this one to help countless other young children who have heart defects.