Hartford HeathCare team delivers gift of life with first beating heart transplant in CT

Hartford Courant – Wednesday, December 25, 2024
By Sean Krofssik 

Dr. Dina Al Rameni and her transplant team at Hartford HealthCare delivered a ground-breaking, life-saving gift right before the holidays, performing what they said is the first beating heart transplant in Connecticut.

This past summer, 62-year-old Sharon Mack of East Hartford, was diagnosed with heart failure and was placed on the heart transplant list.

“Before my heart transplant, I couldn’t even walk 10 feet without stopping to catch my breath,” Mack said. “If I was at the grocery store I had to lean on the cart to hold myself up. I was short of breath a lot. I just couldn’t do much. Everything I did took time and it felt like my body was shutting down.”

Mack was waiting for her heart for four months and was at high risk for rejection, according to Al Rameni.

“She had end-stage heart failure and was dependent on medication that needed to be infused through a line into her heart for her to function on a daily basis,” Al Rameni said. “She was struggling with that for years, and when I saw her in July, I told her she would be a good candidate for a heart transplant. We just had to find the one organ she wasn’t going to reject.”

Al Rameni said if Mack didn’t get a new heart, she would have gone into multi-organ failure because the heart wouldn’t be able to pump enough blood throughout the body.

“It was a late-night transplant, and everyone was asleep when we learned the heart was coming and in the transplant world those are the hours we work,” Al Rameni said. “We have to be ready to go. These patients have been on the transplant list for weeks and months and Sharon’s surgery was overnight. It was a very peaceful night with great energy.”

Al Rameni and her team performed the groundbreaking transplant on Nov. 13. She was one of a five-person team in the operating room during the four-hour procedure.

“I got the call that day saying that there was a heart for me,” Mack said. “I was thinking how I was going to start my day first, shower or eat. I showered and I’m glad that I did because they said it was a good thing that I hadn’t eaten yet.

“My psychiatrist got me in the right mindset and put me in the right head space,” she added. “She told me to let it go and let people take care of me. The team at Hartford Hospital really cares about their patients. I consider them family. They were so great to me.”

Hours after the surgery, Al Rameni stopped in to see her and the two shared a fist bump.

“Sharon had a breathing tube out the first day out of surgery and was already sitting in a chair on the first day,” Al Rameni said. “She was eating her breakfast. I was so proud of her. What I liked about Sharon is that she connected on a personal level with the staff. Everyone loved her. … She was willing to fight the fight. Sharon’s a star.

“I’m very invested in my job and my patients,” Al Rameni added. “This is the best gift I can give. We had the perfect donor. It was a perfect size match. This is very rewarding seeing my patient living her life with no issues. I think it’s very gratifying. My friends know that my happiness is 100 percent with how my patients are doing.”

A rare procedure

Al Rameni said less than 100 of these transplants have been performed throughout the United States. According to Al Rameni, the procedure can improve transplant outcomes and could revolutionize how transplants are performed.

“The heart is transplanted on a machine in the Organ Care System that keeps the heart in a beating state, and it’s preserved in a good environment. This is fascinating technology,” Al Rameni said.

According to the FDA , “The OCS Heart System supplies donor hearts with oxygen and nutrients by passing fluids through the heart (perfusion). The device also measures and displays preservation metrics, such as temperature and pressure.”

Typically donated hearts are flown into the hospital on ice from no more than four hours away. Beating heart transplants travel with mechanics that allow the heart to continue to beat and that allows more time and can come from further away.

“This new advancement and new technology allows us to implant hearts that are further away,” Al Rameni said.

The first-ever beating heart transplant took place in October 2022 by Dr. Joseph Woo at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Al Rameni said the surgery can be very difficult to perform.

“It’s different and technically challenging because the heart is moving,” Al Rameni said. “It’s like shooting a moving target compared to shooting a still target, which is quicker and less challenging. But I had a great team with me that helped me hold it in a certain position. In the end, it’s still a heart transplant. I’m making the five connections and sowing them in, except this time we did it with a beating heart.”

Al Rameni, who joined the Hartford Hospital staff just five months ago, has been a part of 11 heart transplants and has headed five transplants including the beating heart transplant.

Hartford HealthCare performs an average of 35 heart transplants a year, which is on par with Yale-New Haven for the most in the state.

Al Rameni said Mack was a good candidate for the new procedure.

“Obviously when you are trying something new, they are skeptical, but I believed in the science,” Al Rameni said. “I discussed it with my colleagues and we decided to do it.”

Al Rameni said Mack was able to leave the hospital in six days “and her heart was beating naturally right away. Her body accepted it very well and this was very encouraging.”

Historic achievement

Mack said she’s happy to make history in Connecticut with her new heart.

“I didn’t know I was the first-ever in the state to have the beating heart transplant until my doctor told me. I thought I was the first in Hartford Hospital,” she said. “It was a blessing and I was so happy and the fact that it was a beating heart could have made a difference with my recovery and sped up my progress. It was already beating and ready to go. My doctors were in awe. They said I was truly a miracle.”

Mack said she was ready to start moving around the day after the surgery.

“I didn’t feel any pain. I wasn’t sore or hurting or anything,” Mack said. “I asked the nurses in the ICU to walk with me and I did two laps around the floor and then I did five the next day. The next day I did 10. Then I told them to let me do it on my own and just be there to catch me if I fell.”

Mack said she was climbing stairs on her third day with her new heart. The health professionals had her start doing tasks like folding clothes so she could be prepared to be ready to go back home.”

A month later, Mack said she is feeling great and is in no pain.

Mack, who grew up in Hartford, has five children who all live in the area. She also has 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. She is currently staying with one of her daughters and will be moving to a new house in East Hartford. She invited Al Rameni and many of the caretakers who took care of her.

“She asked me to bring a fancy wine,” Al Rameni said with a laugh. “This was a perfect fit for Sharon and the heart was the one missing piece.”

“They are my miracle medical family,” Mack said. “Every one of them was such a blessing for me. They wanted me to do well, and they gave me the motivation and helped me do this.”

She said she currently has no trouble climbing up and down the stairs but occasionally uses a cane.

“I’m very mobile and this is not what I expected,” Mack said. “They thought I would be under 24-hour care but I’m basically doing everything on my own. I cook on my own. I thought I was going to be in the hospital for a month … I listen to my body. When my body is telling me to rest, then I rest. I’m still healing.”

Mack said one change is she gets very emotional.

“I am so blessed. This is such a blessing to get this heart. The entire Hartford Hospital team brought me where I’m at. I didn’t get here by myself.” Mack said. “I wasn’t afraid. I felt I was in good hands and I had nothing to worry about.”

Mack said doesn’t have any big plans with her new heart. She said she wants to go to the beach or the mall without having to keep sitting down.

“I am looking forward to having that freedom to keep moving. It’s those simple things you take for granted,” Mack said.

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