Children wait two years for a heart. Prof. Mariusz Kuśmierczyk: "We have a significant problem when it comes to pediatric donors"

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At the Medical University of Warsaw, three young patients are currently waiting for new hearts – two boys and one girl. The average waiting time for an organ for a child weighing about 20 kilograms is over two years. Prof. Mariusz Kuśmierczyk, head of the Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Transplant Surgery, says directly: “Transplantation is the only way for these children to live today.”

Children born with hypoplastic left hearts are still being born in Poland. This defect is so serious that until recently it meant a death sentence – despite a series of surgeries, sooner or later the heart would fail. As Professor Mariusz Kuśmierczyk from the Medical University of Warsaw explains, “in other countries they are almost non-existent, because fetuses with this defect are aborted.” There is no shortage of such children in Poland – and today they can have hope thanks to transplants.

The defect is that the child has only one functional ventricle of the heart - the left one does not develop properly. In order to survive, the little one undergoes several surgeries to adjust his circulatory system. However, over time, this one ventricle stops coping.

The problem is that children have to wait a very long time for a new heart. Currently, three children are waiting for a transplant at the Medical University of Warsaw: a 7-year-old, a 9-year-old and a 12-year-old. Their chances depend on whether a suitable donor is found.

In adults, it is easier to select an organ – differences in size are acceptable. In children, it is not – their chest is too small to accommodate a larger heart. The expert claims that if we have a child who weighs less than 20 kilograms, we cannot transplant a larger heart because it simply will not fit.

Time is also against us. No more than four hours can pass between the collection of the heart and its implantation. In the case of adults, there are already special transport systems that extend this time to 12 hours. For children, there are no such devices yet.

There is a shortage of donors. Prof. Kuśmierczyk says openly:

- We have a significant problem when it comes to pediatric donors and it is difficult for us to convince pediatric anaesthesiologists to talk to the parents about donation in the face of the tragedy of a child's death - said the cardiac surgeon, adding that "one dead child can save eight other children and these organs can live in other children".

Fortunately, more and more often, parents themselves, experiencing the tragedy of their child's death, come to the clinic asking for organ donation so that their loss is not in vain.

Babies with serious defects often die shortly after birth. Their hearts, if healthy, can be used for transplantation, even if the weight difference is significant.

Just a few years ago, 11–12 heart transplants were performed in children in Poland each year. Now, there are twice as many.

There are currently around 20 children on the waiting list, but the doctor estimates that the actual number of those in need is much higher.

Source: PAP