Baptist Health First in State to Adopt SherpaPak® Cardiac Transport System

By BECKy GILLETTE

The Baptist Health Heart Failure and Transplant Institute has performed almost 320 heart transplants in its 32-year history. Starting this past September, Baptist Health became the first transplant center in Arkansas to adopt the use of the SherpaPak ® Cardiac Transport System (CTS) from Paragonix Technologies that is easier for medical personnel to use to prepare the heart for transport and less damaging to the organ.

Baptist Health Transplant Institute Program Director John Ransom, MD, said given the scarcity of donor hearts, it is vitally important to do everything possible to preserve hearts during transport.

“This device allows us to preserve the heart in a more natural state, ultimately better serving the patient with improved technology,” Ransom said.

The previous method of transporting hearts was in a bag of solution surrounded by ice.

“The major advantage of this device is that the organ is suspended in a solution and surrounded by the SherpaPaks, which maintain a constant temperature between 4-6 degrees Celsius, which is ideal for the transport of the heart,” said Karol Mudy, MD, heart transplant surgical director, Baptist Health Heart Failure and Transplant Institute.