The new heart is inserted into the right side of the chest and
attached in parallel to the patient's own heart which is left in position.
This procedure may be used if the donor heart is small, or patient's lung
pressure is slightly high in this situation the donor heart acts as a support
for the native heart.
Sophie's
story - two hearts are better than one
Twelve-year-old
Sophie Parke was born with a heart problem and, at the age of just three, she
underwent a piggy-back heart transplant. A new heart was attached to her
existing one as a backup. While her health improved dramatically, her own
heart's condition deteriorated and had to be removed six years later. A second
heart transplant was fitted to the first one.
Sophie
is now promoting the Boots campaign to encourage more people to become donors.
Sophie had her transplant at Harefield heart Hospital, by Sir
Professor Magdi Yacoub, Sophie was asked to be the Harefield Hospital mascot
and presented a 100,000 signatures to the prime minister asking the government
not to close Harefield Hospital.
