Cow Valve Pumps Baby's Heart
Disease, old age or injury - whatever the need for a replacement body part, chances are these days that modern medicine can provide. As part of a CBS 'This Morning' series called "Body Shop," Health Contributor Dr. Dave Hnida of CBS station KCNC-TV in Denver reports on a 13-month-old boy who recently became the first person in the United States to have a cow neck valve transplanted in his heart.
Ryan Doty has been breathing on his own since Thursday night and the prognosis looks good, said Dr. Robert Brown, the cardiothorasic surgeon who performed the transplant May 4.
The procedure, performed at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, has not been approved in the United States, but the Food and Drug Administration permitted the surgery as a "compassionate case" because of Ryan's critical condition.
"He was extremely ill and really wasn't expected to live. This was the only thing that could save his life," Brown, the director of heart transplantation surgery at the Indiana University medical centers, told The Evansville Courier & Press in Sunday's editions.
Ryan was born with only one heart valve instead of two. When he was 3 months old, he received a heart-valve transplant from an infant who had died. But that valve weakened and developed leaks, said Brown, who performed the initial transplant.
Infant heart valves are always in short supply, and they tend to fail in transplant procedures. In addition, pig valves used for transplant in adult hearts are too large for infants.
A valve from a cows neck "is perfect" for transplanting into an infant's heart, Brown said. The valve is strong, yet very pliable and soft, and just the right size for children's hearts. Fortunately, a valve is a type of tissue that doesn't get rejected by the body, Dr. Hnida says.
The procedure was approved in Europe a year ago. So far 13 of the transplants have been performed in Switzerland and Italy, with successful results.
The main drawback is that the valve will not grow with the child and has to be replaced when the child reaches adolescence. Brown said that when recipients become teen-agers, they'll require another surgery to receive a pig's valve transplant.
Brown said he expects the FDA will approve bovine neck valve use in America by the end of this year.