May 20, 2025- A new discovery by Mayo Clinic researchers could mean more donor hearts are available for heart transplant, giving more people a second chance at life. In findings published in Nature Cardiovascular Research, a Mayo Clinic team identified a biological process that contributes to donor heart injury during cold storage. The researchers found that a drug already used to treat heart conditions can prevent this damage.
Heart transplantation is the most effective treatment for end-stage heart failure, yet fewer than half of donor hearts are ultimately used. One major reason is the relatively short window for transplanting a donated heart into a patient, due to concerns over low donor heart function that comes from leaving a heart in cold storage too long.