Overview
- The operations were performed on December 18 and 20 by separate cardiac surgery teams led by Dr. Lorenzo Galletti and Dr. Adriano Carotti.
- Both patients, ages 6 and 8, were kept under sedation for several days and fully awakened on December 24 to see their families, and they remain hospitalized in the cardiac anesthesia and intensive care unit led by Dr. Luca Di Chiara.
- They are followed by Dr. Rachele Adorisio, who noted that donor hearts from age-matched children are rare and favorable for long-term outcomes.
- For the highly sensitized recipient, clinicians used for the first time in pediatric practice a drug targeting immune‑memory cells to lower antibodies and enable transplantation.
- The older child, Andrea, has a complex congenital heart condition, previously lived in intensive care with an external artificial heart, and still requires a kidney transplant.