Doctors were able to successfully transfer a human liver inside a machine.

 Scientists are developing novel methods for preserving donated organs without the need of severe cold.

After the kidney, the liver is the second most commonly transplanted organ. Shutterstock is the source of this image. 

The procedure was successful. Organ donation is a highly technical medical operation. The organ must be compatible with the recipient, and the process also entails transferring a living organ from the donor to the recipient and keeping it functional until surgery.

Organs are traditionally moved for transplant by keeping them at a very low temperature. This procedure, however, has a time limit and can harm organ tissues.

As a result, scientists are developing novel methods to keep donated organs healthy without using extreme cold.

One such organization is the Zurich, Switzerland-based Liver for Life research team, which employed a perfusion machine to maintain a human liver alive for three days. The liver was subsequently transplanted in a human patient, who is presently doing well a year after the treatment.

Organ transplantation in the traditional sense

More than 41,000 transplants were performed in the United States in 2021, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. After the kidney, the liver is the second most commonly transplanted organ.

Every 9 minutes, someone is added to an organ transplant waiting list. Despite the fact that the number of persons giving their organs has increased, UNOS notes that there is still a scarcity of organs available. Every day, an average of 17 individuals die while waiting for help.

Organs can be preserved in cold storage for varying amounts of time before their tissues begin to degrade. The cold ischemia period of a heart, for example, is 4 to 6 hours, whereas the cold ischemia time of a kidney is 24 to 36 hours. The liver is a vital organ. It will keep for 8 to 12 hours if kept cold.

In terms of the liver, research is ongoing. Previous research has shown that a protracted period of cold ischemia can harm a liver transplant. According to other studies, cold ischemia period increases the length of time a patient spends in the hospital after a transplant.

What is a perfusion machine and how does it work?

Perfusion machines are being researched as an alternative to keeping organs outside the body. The contraption pumps blood and simulates the activities of the heart and lungs in the human body.

Prof. Pierre-Alain Calvin, Chairman of the Department of Visceral Surgery and Transplantation at the University Hospital of Zurich (USZ) in Switzerland, is the study's principal author. He claims that the perfusion equipment keeps a liver graft alive for several days, not just a few hours.

"This allows us to turn a liver transplant from an emergency procedure into an elective one," he stated. "Secondly, the extra time on the perfusion machine allows for in-depth liver treatment prior to transplantation, which was previously impossible."

Prof. Calvin continued, "The perfusion machine can be employed in a variety of ways." "The major goal is to treat patients by providing a good donor or even a regenerated segment of liver for auto transplantation after surgery."

. [Also] This platform's ability to conduct toxicological research without the requirement for human testing is particularly appealing."

Considering the future

Professor Calvin stated his team is currently planning a multicenter clinical trial for the transplant of long-term storage liver grafts in your infusion device as the next stage in this novel technique.

He also believes that the perfusion machine technology could be used to other organs in the future. "This technique is potentially applicable for all transplanted organs today," Calvin noted, "but some circuit tweaks would have to be performed."

"We're particularly interested in kidney and uterine perfusion, which has already been demonstrated in preclinical trials," he said.

MNT was also heard.

about this study with Dr. Robert S. Brown, Jr., the Vincent Astor Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Chief of Weill Cornell Medicine's Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

The potential for mechanical organ perfusion to increase the number of organs available for transplant is enormous:

"These extended periods of time actually do give the prospect of taking an organ that would work, but no one believes it will work, so it creates confidence that it will work." And, in the future, the capacity to modify the organ with medications or [.] a future gene treatment to transform non-transplantable organs into transplantable organs.

"This has the potential to have a major impact on patients in terms of increasing organ access by making more organs available for transplantation."

Prof. Brown continued, "This has the potential to have a huge impact on the patient in terms of increasing organ access by making more organs available for transplant and increasing organ quality by taking previously non-transplantable organs and making them transplantable, or marginally transplantable organs and turning them into good organs."

"I see this as an intriguing proof of concept that has to be tested further, but if it is proven, it will be a significant step forward."

This information was obtained from a reliable source.