By I. Edwards HealthDay Reporter<\/b>
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MONDAY, March, 3, 2025 (HealthDay News) — In a groundbreaking series of surgeries, doctors at Duke Health have successfully performed the world\u2019s first living mitral valve replacement, saving the lives of three young girls across North Carolina.<\/p>\n
The procedure became possible after 11-year-old Journi Kelly, from Wilson, N.C., received a full heart transplant at Duke.<\/p>\n
Instead of getting rid of her original heart, doctors saved two healthy valves and transplanted them into two other children.<\/p>\n
One valve went to 14-year-old Margaret Van Bruggen, a cross-country runner from Charlotte, N.C., who urgently needed a mitral valve replacement after a severe bacterial infection.<\/p>\n
The other valve went to 9-year-old Kensley Frizzell, from Pembroke, N.C., who was born with a genetic condition called Turner\u2019s syndrome that can cause heart defects. She had already endured multiple heart surgeries.<\/p>\n
Currently, children who need heart valve replacements receive either preserved non-living tissue or mechanical valves, which don\u2019t grow with the child and often fail within months.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s not a good valve option for kids,\u201d said Dr. Douglas Overbey<\/a>, assistant professor of surgery at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C.<\/p>\n \u201cThey all require multiple surgeries, and we know they’re going to fail down the road,\u201d Overbey added in a news release. \u201cThat’s something that’s really hard to talk to parents about, knowing that you’re going to have to do the same surgery with a new valve, maybe six months later because they’re going to outgrow it.\u201d<\/p>\n Duke\u2019s new approach — called partial heart transplant — uses living valves from donated hearts, giving children valves that can grow with them, potentially reducing the need for future surgeries.<\/p>\n Since pioneering the technique in 2022, Duke has now performed 20 partial heart transplants under U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidance.<\/p>\n Journi\u2019s journey began when she was rushed to Duke after sudden heart failure.<\/p>\n She was placed on the transplant list, and her parents were asked if they would consider donating parts of her old heart after her transplant.<\/p>\n \u201cThey explained to us that they could use the healthy parts of it to help other kids. Our next question was, \u2018Where do we sign?\u2019 ” Rachel Kelly, Journi\u2019s stepmom, said.<\/p>\n When a donated heart became available for Journi, her original valves were found to be perfect matches for Margaret and Kensley.<\/p>\n For Margaret, the valve transplant came just in time.<\/p>\n After developing a serious bacterial infection called endocarditis<\/a>, large holes formed in her mitral valve, and her health began to decline fast.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was in the hospital, and we could\u2019ve lost her,\u201d Margaret\u2019s mother, Elizabeth Van Bruggen, said in a news release. \u201cBut she was so brave, so I knew I had to be brave too. She\u2019s got a lot left to give the world.\u201d<\/p>\n For Kensley, whose heart condition was tied to Turner\u2019s syndrome, the transplant could mean the end of a long series of heart surgeries.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were expecting she would need surgery, but we never knew this would be an option,\u201d her father, Kenan Frizzell, said. \u201cThe whole situation is extraordinary, whether you look at it from the standpoint of a scientific breakthrough or the average person\u2019s point of view. I can\u2019t imagine all the coordination that\u2019s needed for something like this to take place, but as one of the families that benefited, we can\u2019t be anything other than grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n More information<\/strong><\/p>\n The Mayo Clinic has more on mitral valve repair and replacements<\/a>.<\/p>\n SOURCE: Duke Health, news release, Feb. 27, 2025<\/p>\n