New technology which allows donated hearts to be kept alive outside the body for double the usual time will be significant for Australia, a leading cardiologist says.

For the last 50 years hearts or other organs are “usually ferried around on an esky on ice in a cool solution.”

But the heart in a box device pumps donated organs with a cool nutrient rich liquid during transportation.

Director of Cardiology at The Alfred Professor Dave Kaye says the development is particularly significant for Australia.

“After about four hours the heart function we know doesn’t work so well, and that’s a problem for Australia,” he told Gareth Parker on 6PR Breakfast.

“The new solution now is a small pump, that pumps a cool fluid through the heart while it’s being transported.”

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