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July 15, 2009, China Times
By Chen Youwen / Comprehensive Report
British teenager Hannah Clark, aged 16, underwent a "heterotopic heart transplant" at the age of two due to severe heart failure. Instead of removing her original heart, doctors stitched the donor's heart alongside hers, leaving her with two hearts. In 2006, the medical team removed the implanted heart, and miraculously, Hannah's original heart had recovered on its own. Today, she is fully healed.
In 1994, when Hannah was eight months old, she was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. Her severely failing heart was twice the size of a normal person's, and doctors predicted she might not live beyond a year, placing her on the heart transplant waiting list. However, her heart condition also affected her lungs, necessitating a lung transplant as well.
**Heart Transplant at Age Two, Original Heart Left Intact**
Given the high risk of a simultaneous heart-lung transplant, Sir Magdi Yacoub, a leading cardiac surgeon at Imperial College London, believed that if Hannah's heart had time to rest, it might recover on its own. Thus, in July 1995, when Hannah was two years old, Yacoub's team performed the transplant, implanting the heart of a five-month-old baby directly next to Hannah's own heart. The new heart quickly took over most of the functions of the original one, saving her life.
Four and a half years later, the two hearts were functioning well together, and doctors decided not to remove the transplanted heart. However, the immunosuppressants Hannah took to prevent organ rejection caused side effects, leading to a cancer called "Epstein-Barr virus-associated post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (EBV/PTLD)."
**Medication Side Effects, Transplanted Heart Begins to Fail**
Living in Wales, Hannah underwent chemotherapy and took medication, but the cancer kept recurring. Doctors reduced the dosage of anti-rejection drugs to combat the cancer, yet the tumors continued to spread. Hannah's body also began rejecting the transplanted heart, which started to fail.
Fortunately, by then, Hannah's original heart—which had previously shown no contraction—appeared to have recovered enough to function normally. In February 2006, a medical team led by Victor Tsang from London's Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and Yacoub decided to remove the donor's heart, allowing them to discontinue immunosuppressants—an unprecedented move.
**Original Heart Heals Itself, Regains Function**
Thirty-nine months later, Hannah's cancer was cured, and her heart regained normal function. Now, Hannah has started participating in sports, taken on a part-time job, and plans to return to school in September.
Hannah's case study was published in *The Lancet* medical journal. American cardiologist Douglas Zipes noted that this case demonstrates the heart's ability to self-repair. If the medical community can uncover the mechanism behind Hannah's heart's self-recovery and develop treatments based on it, many heart disease patients could benefit.
Some believe the heart contains a small number of stem cells. When the heart is in crisis, these stem cells may be activated in some way to regenerate damaged tissue.
Source: http:/ / life. chinatimes. com/ 2……0302+112009071500158,00. html
Heart-to-Heart: Miracle of A British Girl's Life
By Chen Youwen / Comprehensive Report
British teenager Hannah Clark, aged 16, underwent a "heterotopic heart transplant" at the age of two due to severe heart failure. Instead of removing her original heart, doctors stitched the donor's heart alongside hers, leaving her with two hearts. In 2006, the medical team removed the implanted heart, and miraculously, Hannah's original heart had recovered on its own. Today, she is fully healed.
In 1994, when Hannah was eight months old, she was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. Her severely failing heart was twice the size of a normal person's, and doctors predicted she might not live beyond a year, placing her on the heart transplant waiting list. However, her heart condition also affected her lungs, necessitating a lung transplant as well.
**Heart Transplant at Age Two, Original Heart Left Intact**
Given the high risk of a simultaneous heart-lung transplant, Sir Magdi Yacoub, a leading cardiac surgeon at Imperial College London, believed that if Hannah's heart had time to rest, it might recover on its own. Thus, in July 1995, when Hannah was two years old, Yacoub's team performed the transplant, implanting the heart of a five-month-old baby directly next to Hannah's own heart. The new heart quickly took over most of the functions of the original one, saving her life.
Four and a half years later, the two hearts were functioning well together, and doctors decided not to remove the transplanted heart. However, the immunosuppressants Hannah took to prevent organ rejection caused side effects, leading to a cancer called "Epstein-Barr virus-associated post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (EBV/PTLD)."
**Medication Side Effects, Transplanted Heart Begins to Fail**
Living in Wales, Hannah underwent chemotherapy and took medication, but the cancer kept recurring. Doctors reduced the dosage of anti-rejection drugs to combat the cancer, yet the tumors continued to spread. Hannah's body also began rejecting the transplanted heart, which started to fail.
Fortunately, by then, Hannah's original heart—which had previously shown no contraction—appeared to have recovered enough to function normally. In February 2006, a medical team led by Victor Tsang from London's Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and Yacoub decided to remove the donor's heart, allowing them to discontinue immunosuppressants—an unprecedented move.
**Original Heart Heals Itself, Regains Function**
Thirty-nine months later, Hannah's cancer was cured, and her heart regained normal function. Now, Hannah has started participating in sports, taken on a part-time job, and plans to return to school in September.
Hannah's case study was published in *The Lancet* medical journal. American cardiologist Douglas Zipes noted that this case demonstrates the heart's ability to self-repair. If the medical community can uncover the mechanism behind Hannah's heart's self-recovery and develop treatments based on it, many heart disease patients could benefit.
Some believe the heart contains a small number of stem cells. When the heart is in crisis, these stem cells may be activated in some way to regenerate damaged tissue.
Source: http:/ / life. chinatimes. com/ 2……0302+112009071500158,00. html