By Alicia Chang, The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Andrea Ybarra's donated heart was beating rhythmically by the time she awoke from the grogginess of her surgery.
Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub. In fact, it was warm and pumping even before doctors transplanted it.
Ybarra belongs to a small group of people who have had a "beating heart" transplant, an experimental operation that's mostly been done in Europe. The donor heart is placed into a special box that feeds it blood and keeps it warm and ticking outside the body.
"I felt peaceful when I woke up. I wasn't scared," recalled the 40-year-old from Los Angeles who suffers from lupus. "It felt like the heart was a part of me all the time."
Despite advances in heart transplantation, the way hearts are moved around the United States and most places remains low-tech.
Beating heart transplants tested - USATODAY.com
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