For Book: Quality of Donated Heart?

[TromboneAl]

My Googling has not turned up an answer to this question:

If you get a heart transplant from, say, a twenty-year-old Olympic athlete, would you feel better/stronger than you would had you received it from a fifty-year-old regular Joe?

I found this:

Carefully selected donor hearts 50 years of age and older can be used for heart transplantation with long-term survival and related outcomes similar to those of younger donor organs.

And this for thirty year old:

The study patient was a 30-year-old woman who was transplanted a 68-year-old donor heart, surviving 23 years with no major cardiac problems. To our knowledge, she has one of the oldest surviving donor hearts (91-year-old heart). "The good news is that we found you a heart donor. The bad news is that he's sixty-eight."

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

Yes I would prefer the young athletes heart. Less years on it, less bad habits prob. Also I would bet it pumped more efficiently.

 

[Amethyst]

As registered organ donors, one over 60 and one way over 60, we were informed that the health of our organs - and the donor body itself - was of far greater importance than their age. Not saying age doesn't matter.

Also, when a close relative's spouse needed a liver, the donor's age was given far less weight than the donor's general health. One thing I recall learning is that healthy older people are scarce on the donor list, because they tend not to indulge in risky behavior (e.g. motorcycle racing) that results in being healthy, but dead. Car accidents affect everyone, of course, but they also tend to result in mangled bodies containing mangled organs.

Sorry for the morbid words - I actually think organ donation is one of the strongest affirmations of Life there is,

 

[footenote]

Of course a younger donor's organs would generally be in better shape.

A more likely choice:
Would you like a sound, undiseased 68 yo donor heart or no donor heart?

 

[TromboneAl]

Good info. What I'm really getting at is how you would feel.

You get a heart transplant from a man who died in a car crash days after winning Olympic gold medals in both the decathlon and rowing. Once you recover, would you feel extra strong?

 

[braumeister]

Good info. What I'm really getting at is how you would feel.

You get a heart transplant from a man who died in a car crash days after winning Olympic gold medals in both the decathlon and rowing. Once you recover, would you feel extra strong?

I doubt it. Your whole circulatory system remains the same (arteries, veins, and capillaries) in whatever condition they were. The new pump is more efficient than your old one but has the same plumbing to pump through.

 

[38Chevy454]

I doubt it. Your whole circulatory system remains the same (arteries, veins, and capillaries) in whatever condition they were. The new pump is more efficient than your old one but has the same plumbing to pump through.

That's a good analogy.


However I think for *any* donor heart recipient, getting a new used (less or more age) heart is far better than the original the recipient has. The original heart quality is so bad that any donor heart is an improvement.

 

[Sunset]

I doubt it. Your whole circulatory system remains the same (arteries, veins, and capillaries) in whatever condition they were. The new pump is more efficient than your old one but has the same plumbing to pump through.

Plus the operation itself would be a real hardship on the body, sort of suck the life out of a person. It would take a while to "recover" just from the operation.

 

[kcowan]

Yes I think the overall health of the donor is the key. If the 68 yo had clogged arteries and died of a stroke, that would be different.

 

[Amethyst]

I wonder if such a heart would even be deemed transplantable. The organ itself might not survive the trauma. Such a donor might still have good blood, corneas, skin etc. to donate though. There is so much you can donate that could help somebody live, or live better.

Yes I think the overall health of the donor is the key. If the 68 yo had clogged arteries and died of a stroke, that would be different.

 

[TromboneAl]

I doubt it. Your whole circulatory system remains the same (arteries, veins, and capillaries) in whatever condition they were. The new pump is more efficient than your old one but has the same plumbing to pump through.

I guess it depends on what the limiting factor was. I'm not going to have the recipient running marathons, but I might make her feel a little better than before her heart attack.

Because I think the expression "literally" is funny, the first line of the scene with this character will probably be something like this:

Louella Davis had a good heart. Although sixty-six, she had the heart of a twenty-year-old Olympic cyclist. Literally. The athlete had been hit by a car while training along the Redwood Highway, and although she wasn't at the top of the transplant list ...

 

[SecondCor521]

although she wasn't at the top of the transplant list

Maybe I misunderstand where this sentence is going. If I understand correctly, though: ruh roh.

In the US at least, I believe that we generally have a shortage of organ donors.
Because of this shortage and the fact that organs are extremely valuable, transplant protocols - including who receives what when - are extraordinarily carefully managed according to very well thought out rules and priorities based on location, organ compatibility, recipient health and other things.

It is impossible, as far as I know, to circumvent these priorities and rules based on other considerations such as money or fame or political clout or what have you.

 

[Helios]

Generally the younger the better. Specifically the match is most important, determines the life of the transplant and amount of harsh immuno meds needed.
Blood type and genetic match.

 

[JDARNELL]

I have a son that is a heart transplant recipient. We are very blessed!

 

[TromboneAl]

Maybe I misunderstand where this sentence is going. If I understand correctly, though: ruh roh.

I'm going to do more research on this, but if I learn that it would be unlikely that she could get a new heart so quickly, here's where things are going:

Although she's not at the top of the list, the donor died locally, and the delays were such that there wasn't time to ship the heart to some other recipient on the list. Thus, it was a situation in which they either gave the heart to Louella or threw it away.

Do you think that will fly?

 

[braumeister]

I'm going to do more research on this, but if I learn that it would be unlikely that she could get a new heart so quickly, here's where things are going:

Although she's not at the top of the list, the donor died locally, and the delays were such that there wasn't time to ship the heart to some other recipient on the list. Thus, it was a situation in which they either gave the heart to Louella or threw it away.

Do you think that will fly?

Great try, Al, but I don't think so. If there were a hospital with heart transplant capability nearby then there would also most likely be a nearby airport.

 

[aja8888]

My BIL got a new heart at 75 years old. The heart came from a 36 year old. BIL still feels and acts like a 79 year old (4 years since new heart). Plus now he needs a new hip.

With all the meds required to keep the heart from being rejected, he has the shakes and feels pretty lousy most of the time.

 

[6miths]

If someone were in decent shape and needed the new heart due to some acute heart disease like a viral inflammation then a new heart is not going to make them feel any better than before they got ill (as pointed out the surgery, recovery and meds are going to make them feel like they were kicked by a mule). If they were in chronic, end-stage cardiac failiure due to repeated myocardial infarctions or such then they are going to feel much better. The heart is not an engine that pushes the body it is pretty much just a pump that responds to the demands of the body. If one were to put the heart of an elite endurance athlete into a non-athete it would rapidly de-condition over the course of a couple of months unless the recipient really pushed it - which is of course unlikely because they don't have the facilities to do it. How we feel has more to do with our joints, muscles and connective tissues and of course our brain!

 

[Teacher Terry]

Money can get you to the top of the list. That’s how Larry Hagman got his. Erma Bombeck turned down moving up the list. A very healthy friend of mine had a widow maker heart attack at 56. He got a transplant and feels great at 65.

 

[irishgal]

Like others have said, the overall health of the recipient would have to come into play. A person with a number of medical comorbidities and/or was on medication (including but not limited to the meds taken when one has a transplant in theory would not feel as well as a cohort who was in better physical condition.
Additionally, how would you measure the "improvement"? In the book how would you make it realistic to the reader that the person receiving the transplant felt significantly better?

Just my off the wall 2 cents