• Posted March 3, 2025

Duke Doctors Perform First Living Mitral Valve Transplant

In a groundbreaking series of surgeries, doctors at Duke Health have successfully performed the world’s first living mitral valve replacement, saving the lives of three young girls across North Carolina.

The procedure became possible after 11-year-old Journi Kelly, from Wilson, N.C., received a full heart transplant at Duke. 

Instead of getting rid of her original heart, doctors saved two healthy valves and transplanted them into two other children.

One valve went to 14-year-old Margaret Van Bruggen, a cross-country runner from Charlotte, N.C., who urgently needed a mitral valve replacement after a severe bacterial infection.

The other valve went to 9-year-old Kensley Frizzell, from Pembroke, N.C., who was born with a genetic condition called Turner’s syndrome that can cause heart defects. She and had already endured multiple heart surgeries.

Currently, children who need heart valve replacements receive either preserved non-living tissue or mechanical valves, which don’t grow with the child and often fail within months.

“There’s not a good valve option for kids,” said Dr. Douglas Overbey, assistant professor of surgery at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C.

“They all require multiple surgeries, and we know they're going to fail down the road,” Overbey added in a news release. “That's something that's really hard to talk to parents about, knowing that you're going to have to do the same surgery with a new valve, maybe six months later because they're going to outgrow it.”

Duke’s new approach -- called partial heart transplant -- uses living valves from donated hearts, giving children valves that can grow with them, potentially reducing the need for future surgeries.

Since pioneering the technique in 2022, Duke has now performed 20 partial heart transplants under U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidance.

Journi’s journey began when she was rushed to Duke after sudden heart failure.

She was placed on the transplant list, and her parents were asked if they would consider donating parts of her old heart after her transplant.

“They explained to us that they could use the healthy parts of it to help other kids. Our next question was, ‘Where do we sign?’ " Rachel Kelly, Journi’s stepmom, said.

When a donated heart became available for Journi, her original valves were found to be perfect matches for Margaret and Kensley.

For Margaret, the valve transplant came just in time. 

After developing a serious bacterial infection called endocarditis, large holes formed in her mitral valve, and her health began to decline fast.

“She was in the hospital, and we could’ve lost her,” Margaret’s mother, Elizabeth Van Bruggen, said in a news release. “But she was so brave, so I knew I had to be brave too. She’s got a lot left to give the world.”

For Kensley, whose heart condition was tied to Turner’s syndrome, the transplant could mean the end of a long series of heart surgeries.

“We were expecting she would need surgery, but we never knew this would be an option,” her father, Kenan Frizzell, said. “The whole situation is extraordinary, whether you look at it from the standpoint of a scientific breakthrough or the average person’s point of view. I can’t imagine all the coordination that’s needed for something like this to take place, but as one of the families that benefited, we can’t be anything other than grateful.”

More information

The Mayo Clinic has more on mitral valve repair and replacements.

SOURCE: Duke Health, news release, Feb. 27, 2025