Around the world, some 6,000 patients undergo heart transplants every year. Still, cardiac transplantation technology and delivery systems have remained unchanged for five decades. The current method of transporting organs in an ice cooler does not provide temperature or pressure control, and surgeons report that often hearts arrive injured—putting the patient’s life at serious risk. The Paragonix SherpaPak™ Cardiac Transport System (CTS) team set out to design a more intuitive, advanced product that would give the clinical teams and transplant recipients every possible advantage to succeed and thrive.

This first-of-its-kind device provides a sterile, temperature- and pressure-controlled environment for hearts traveling between operating rooms, increasing the likelihood of a successful transplant. And unlike a standard cooler, it provides surgeons with data about temperature and maintains constant pressure throughout the journey. The product is designed to be easy-to-use in stressful, fast-paced environments where there is no room for mistakes. The SherpaPak™ CTS device is also the only commercially-available FDA-cleared and CE-marked medical device for heart transportation.