In a medical breakthrough, a groundbreaking procedure has been successfully utilized to repair children’s hearts, allowing the organs to grow with the child’s development. The pioneering surgery was first performed on Owen Monroe, who, at just 18 days old, became the world’s first recipient of a partial heart transplant in 2022. The remarkable success of this procedure has now been documented in a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Owen’s heart, initially the size of a strawberry at the time of the groundbreaking surgery, has demonstrated unprecedented growth. At 20 months of age, his heart is now comparable in size to an apricot, showcasing the potential of this innovative approach to heart repair. Unlike traditional procedures that may require additional risky surgeries as the child grows, the tissue used in Owen’s heart repair has adapted and grown alongside him.
The medical community has long sought the ability to cultivate heart valves through tissue engineering, and while successful in animals, translating this achievement to humans has proven elusive. Dr. Kathleen Fenton, chief of the Advanced Technologies and Surgery Branch of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, lauded the recent study as a “huge advance” and emphasized the need for long-term research to fully understand the implications.
Since Owen’s groundbreaking surgery, 12 additional partial heart transplants have been performed in children, with nine carried out at Duke Health, the institution responsible for developing the innovative operation. This technique has also enabled “domino transplants” and split-root transplants, allowing a single donor heart to save the lives of two critically ill infants.
Dr. Joseph Turek, chief of pediatric heart surgery at Duke Health and the lead author of the study, believes that this procedure could potentially benefit hundreds of children annually in the United States. He highlights the possibility of utilizing donor parts that would otherwise be deemed unusable, significantly expanding the pool of available options for pediatric heart transplants.
Owen’s case involved a rare birth defect called truncus arteriosis, affecting approximately 250 babies born in the U.S. each year. The innovative procedure presented an alternative to a full heart transplant, replacing only the defective parts of Owen’s heart with living vessels and valves from a recently deceased donor.
Owen’s parents, Nick and Tayler Monroe, faced a difficult decision but ultimately chose the groundbreaking partial transplant, offering their son a lifeline for survival. Today, Owen is a thriving toddler, meeting developmental milestones with no further need for open-heart surgeries. The Monroes express gratitude for being part of this medical breakthrough, paving the way for improved treatments for children with congenital heart disease.