Toronto doctors have carried out a groundbreaking transplant with a heart that previously stopped beating, the University Health Network (UHN) says.

In a news release Wednesday , UHN said the operation in early September at Toronto General Hospital was “Canada’s first donation after death by circulatory criteria (DCC) heart transplant.”

Heart donations traditionally come from donors with no brain function, with a heart that continues to beat, said UHN. But in the DCC process, the heart is recovered from a patient who has died, it said.

“Although these hearts experience a brief period without oxygen, advances in medical technology now allow them to be successfully transplanted under carefully defined criteria,” the hospital said in the release.

The UHN said donors for the DCC process

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