Partial heart transplant to give growing heart valves to children
Official title: Partial Heart Transplantation: Clinically Relevant Aspects of Transplant Biology
Funded at Arkansas Children's Hospital Res Inst · NIH-11298389 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This work tries transplanting only the donor heart part that contains a valve so children can get a valve that grows with them.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Arkansas Children's Hospital Res Inst NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Little Rock, United States) |
| Project start | May 1, 2026 |
| Project end | February 28, 2031 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $801,261 |
| NIH project number | 1R01HL177528-01A1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11298389 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Children, especially infants and young kids who need a heart valve replacement and who are candidates for transplantation, would be the ideal patients for this approach.
✕Less likely to help
Adults who need whole-heart transplants or children with ventricular disease that cannot be managed while sparing the native ventricles are unlikely to benefit from partial heart transplantation.
What this research studies
Current valve implants for children do not grow, so many kids face repeated operations as they outgrow them. Partial heart transplantation moves only the piece of a donor heart that has the needed valve while leaving the child's own heart ventricles in place. The research examines how these partial transplants behave biologically compared with whole-heart transplants, including how long donor tissue can safely be without blood supply and how the immune system responds. The findings will help doctors design treatments and follow-up plans tailored for children who receive partial heart transplants.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this approach could give children heart valves that grow with them and greatly reduce the need for repeat surgeries.
How similar studies have gone: This is a novel approach with limited prior clinical experience—whole-heart transplants are known to provide growing valves, but the biology of transplanting only valve-containing heart tissue remains largely untested.
Where this research is happening
-
Arkansas Children's Hospital Res Inst
Little Rock, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Rajab, Taufiek Konrad — Arkansas Children's Hospital Res Inst
- Study coordinator: Rajab, Taufiek Konrad
Related research
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.