Toddler gets lucky with 2nd heart
A 20-month-old whose first heart transplant did not take, amazingly found another donor within days and so far so good.
Today a heart is beating strongly in Kobe’s chest — after a second transplant last week. It’s a first for the Mayo Clinic, doing two heart transplants on one child in the span of a week.
“We were very, very lucky,” said Dr. Joseph Dearani, Kobe’s transplant surgeon. “And sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.”
Kobe was diagnosed at three months with a heart condition called dilated cardiomyopathy. For no known reason his heart became enlarged and weak. Other than drugs to help his heart pump, there is no treatment. Except a transplant.
Information from: http://www.startribune.com/science/20747...
