United States: Duke Health has achieved a groundbreaking medical milestone by successfully performing the world’s first living mitral valve replacement surgeries, saving the lives of three young girls from North Carolina. This pioneering partial heart transplant technique allows doctors to use viable heart valves from a donor heart, offering children a long-term solution that grows with them—potentially reducing the need for repeated surgeries, as reported by HealthDay.
A Life-Saving Heart Transplant
The remarkable series of procedures began with 11-year-old Journi Kelly from Wilson, N.C., who underwent a full heart transplant after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest. After a successful surgery, Duke’s medical team preserved two functional heart valves from her original heart—offering them to two other children in critical need.
Transforming Lives with Donated Valves
Margaret Van Bruggen age 14 needed immediate treatment for her heart valve due to an endocarditis bacterial infection that created holes in her valve. Her life needed saving when the transplant became available.
The Pembroke community of North Carolina cares for Kensley Frizzell who has Turner’s syndrome which manifested at her birth as heart defects. The valve from Journi could help diminish the requirement for more heart surgeries after she underwent diverse cardiac procedures throughout her life.
A Medical Breakthrough for Pediatric Heart Care
For children requiring heart valve replacements, current medical options are limited to mechanical valves or non-living tissue, which neither grow with the child nor last long-term.
“There’s not a good valve option for kids,” said Dr. Douglas Overbey, assistant professor of surgery at Duke University School of Medicine. “They all require multiple surgeries, and we know they’re going to fail down the road.”
Through Duke’s 2022 introduction of the partial heart transplant technique surgeons can now develop transplanted heart valves to match reconstruction requirements of growing children potentially reducing the requirement for additional surgical interventions. Twenty FDA-approved partial heart transplants have successfully occurred at Duke following its launch.
A Family’s Gift, A Future of Hope
Journi’s parents, understanding the life-changing impact their daughter’s heart could have, immediately consented to the donation.
“They explained to us that they could use the healthy parts of it to help other kids,” said Rachel Kelly, Journi’s stepmother. “Our next question was, ‘Where do we sign?’”
The successful matching of Journi’s valves to Margaret and Kensley underscores the precision and potential of this groundbreaking technique.
A Second Chance at Life
For Margaret, the transplant was a life-saving intervention at the most critical moment.
“She was in the hospital, and we could’ve lost her,” said her mother, Elizabeth Van Bruggen. “But she was so brave, so I knew I had to be brave too. She’s got a lot left to give the world.”
For Kensley, whose heart defects had required years of medical intervention, the transplant brings newfound hope, as reported by HealthDay.
“We were expecting she would need surgery, but we never knew this would be an option,” said her father, Kenan Frizzell. “The whole situation is extraordinary… We can’t be anything other than grateful.”
A New Era in Pediatric Heart Surgery
With Duke Health leading the way, this revolutionary partial heart transplant technique could transform pediatric heart care—giving children not only a second chance at life but a future with fewer surgeries and better outcomes.