World-renowned heart transplant surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub today presented sixteen-year-old Hannah Clarke from Mountain Ash, near Cardiff as a genuine medical miracle story.
She was born with cardiomyopathy and at the age of two became one of the tiny number of people to undergo "piggybacking" – having a second heart, from a five month old girl, grafted onto her own.
A decade of immunosuppressant drugs led to her developing cancerous tumours but the medical strategy of reducing the dose of immunosuppressants led to Hannah’s second heart failing. In 2006 doctors at Harefield Hospital in West London decided that the piggyback heart must be removed.
But it seems that the 12-year rest that Hannah’s own heart was given by the donor led to what Sir Magdi described as a "magic" recovery. Sir Magdi who removed the donor heart said:
"We did not expect her heart to recover but when it did begin to recover we were absolutely delighted.
"A heart that was not contracting at all now is functioning normally.
"It shows the possibility of recovery of the heart."
Hannah’s story published in the Lancet Online First today also revealed that the case has given the many doctors involved rare insights into transplant surgery and the use of immunosuppressants.
Heart operation girl amazes doctors: Sky News 14 July 2009
Professor Peter Weissberg, of the British Heart Foundation, said cardiologists have long wondered whether a heart which is failing because of cardiomyopathy might be able to recover if rested.
"This seems to be exactly what has happened in Hannah's case in which the donor heart allowed her own heart to take a rest and recover.
"This is an exciting discovery since it proves that, in some instances, a weakened heart has the capacity to recover - if it can be helped."
He said experts were working to perfect a mechanical heart, called a ventricular assist device that can be used in children temporarily to take over the work of a weak heart while it recovers.
A similar device already exists for adults with heart failure awaiting a donor transplant.
The Clark family have now become firm advocates of presumed consent, advocated by the Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown, which would see everyone presumed to be in favour of donating their own organs after death.
