London Health Sciences Centre Successfully Completes Heart Transplant Revolution with Cutting-Edge Technology
London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) in Canada has achieved a groundbreaking milestone by performing a heart transplant utilizing the innovative Transmedics Organ Care system, also known as the “heart in a box.”
This pioneering system enabled the cardiac team to implant a donor heart that might have been deemed unsuitable for transplantation under conventional methods. Dr. Dave Nagpal, co-director of the multi-organ transplant program, highlighted how the “heart in a box” technology can revive a donor heart that has ceased beating after circulatory death.
By placing the donor heart on this advanced machine, the medical team can monitor its function in real-time to ensure its viability for the recipient. This state-of-the-art approach opens up new possibilities for utilizing donor hearts that were previously considered less viable.
The recipient of this life-changing heart transplant was Raj Mittal, who had previously undergone a triple bypass surgery in 2025. After being readmitted in January of the current year, Mittal chose to be placed on the organ donation list and underwent the transformative transplant surgery in February 2026.
Since the successful procedure, Mittal has experienced a significant improvement in his quality of life. He shared, “I am now able to engage in activities like walking, undergoing physiotherapy, and spending precious moments with my family, especially my children.”
The remarkable “heart in a box” technology not only expedited Mittal’s transplant process, with a mere two-week wait time, but also holds the potential to reduce wait times for countless individuals on the transplant waiting list. By enhancing organ preservation capabilities and extending transport times to 12 hours, this cutting-edge system is poised to increase donor heart availability by as much as 40 percent, thereby offering hope to patients in critical need of transplants.
This significant achievement was made possible through extensive collaboration among London Health Sciences Centre, Ontario Health, and Trillium Gift of Life Network in London.
