"What happened is incredible." This is how Roberto Burioni commented on TV about the heart transplant case in Naples, which is now under investigation. A guest on "Che tempo che fa" on NOVE, the doctor emphasized the need to determine responsibilities but, above all, to strengthen procedures: "There will be an investigation not only to catch any culprits, but also to develop foolproof procedures."
The dry ice issue: "It's hard to confuse it with regular ice."
At the heart of Burioni's concerns is the use of dry ice in organ preservation. "It's called dry because it's solid carbon dioxide: it doesn't dissolve in water but sublimates into gas," he explained.
A substance that, due to its extremely low temperature (around −80°C), requires specific protection: "You can't handle it with bare hands; it burns the skin. It's difficult to imagine an accidental mix-up with regular ice."
According to what has emerged so far, it was precisely the use of dry ice instead of traditional ice that compromised the heart: the freezing of the cells—compared by the virologist to "bottles full of water"—caused them to rupture, rendering the organ unusable.
Timing and clinical decisions: "Not a single mistake"
Among the aspects still unclear, Burioni also cited the sequence of operations: "It's unclear whether the heart was removed before it was certain that another was available." This, if confirmed, would indicate organizational as well as technical issues. "There certainly wasn't a single mistake," he concluded, "but a series of mistakes."
The Italian transplant system: excellence to be preserved
Despite the seriousness of the case, the virologist recalled the general context: "Excellence in healthcare is not just the result of individual doctors, but of the entire procedure and teamwork."
Italy, he noted, has some of the best post-transplant survival rates in the world, with a fully public system and a particularly widespread culture of donation: "We are virtuous donors; in Europe, only the Spanish surpass us."
A healthcare asset that—he warned—must be protected precisely through strengthened procedures and controls, so that incidents like the one in Naples "never happen again."
Source EDITORIAL TEAM
Comments (1)
Reading the article, it seems to me that there's a lot of confusion about how to manage transplanted organs. It's not easy to understand all the procedures, but it's important to get tested to avoid similar problems in the future.