A donor heart for a child is removed from the transport box at the Zurich Children’s Hospital.Archive image: KEYSTONE
The transplant of a donor heart for a two-year-old boy in Italy failed due to a tragic mistake. Everything was ready for the operation – then the doctors discovered that a mistake had been made during transport.
Feb 8, 2026, 4:49 p.mFeb 8, 2026, 4:49 p.m
A replacement organ had finally been found for the child from Naples, who has been treated since he was a child for a serious heart defect: the heart of another little boy who drowned in South Tyrol. During transport, however, it was not packed in conventional ice as usual, but in much colder dry ice. This caused irreparable damage to the donor heart.
The heart came from a four-year-old who died in a swimming pool. According to a report by the Ansa news agency, everything was ready for the transplant in the hospital in Naples. However, when the doctors opened the cool box, they discovered that the heart had been packed in dry ice for the more than 800 kilometer transport: carbon dioxide that was more than minus 78 degrees Celsius. As a result, the donor heart “literally froze”.
Public prosecutors are investigating
During such transports, the heart is normally in a bag with sterile preservation solution. This is cooled from the outside by conventional ice – usually ice cubes or crushed ice. The aim is to cool the heart to a temperature between four and eight degrees in order to slow down the metabolism.
It was said that the little boy’s parents were desperate after the failed transplant. The child is now still in the hospital and has to wait for a new replacement organ.
The public prosecutor’s offices in Naples and Bolzano – where the heart was removed – opened investigations into how the error could have occurred. An internal investigation is also ongoing. The hospital in Bolzano pointed out that it was only responsible for removing the donor heart. Naples was responsible for the “adequate preservation”. (sda/dpa)