8-Year-Old Japanese Girl Needs A New Heart - Soon

An 8-year-old Japanese girl is a suitable candidate for a heart transplant, but the 45-pound patient may have only days to live while she waits for a donor, doctors said Monday.

Miyuki Monobe, of Shinagawa, Japan, came with her parents to the United States because her country’s strict laws make transplants virtually impossible there.

She was in critical condition Monday at the UCLA Medical Center.

“She’s on a ventilator. She’s getting a lot of medication,” said pediatric cardiologist Juan Alejos.

“It’s a very high-risk time.”

Asked how long the girl could hold on without a new heart, Alejos said: “It’s hard to predict - something probably measured in days or weeks.”

The problem is that Miyuki’s heart “basically has to do twice the work to get the blood out,” Alejos said. The left pumping chamber - the ventricle - is failing, and her lungs, kidneys and other organs “definitely are suffering strain.”

After days of tests, Miyuki officially was placed Monday on a waiting list with the United Network for Organ Sharing, based in Richmond, Va.

Because of her precarious condition, her case has top priority, but she still is listed behind others with similar needs who were evaluated earlier.

Her case has received nationwide attention in Japan, and opponents of the nation’s strict transplantation laws are using Miyuki’s case to renew their calls for an easing of the regulations that force those in need to seek donors overseas.

In Japan, brain death is not legally accepted; death is recognized only after the heart stops beating. But once this happens, the organ quickly deteriorates and becomes unsuitable for transplantation.