DURHAM, N.C. — Doctors at Duke Health say they have performed a heart transplant on a 6-month-old boy in a way that could change how organ transplants are done in the future.
The new technique could make transplants more durable and successful by reducing the body’s instinct to reject the donated organ and the need for medications to prevent rejection.
That’s because along with the tiny donated heart, Easton Sinnamon also received cultured tissue from the thymus gland of the same donor. The thymus stimulates production of T cells that fight off foreign substances in the body, and doctors expect that by implanting tissue from the donor’s thymus Easton’s immune system will recognize the heart as his own.
