Using a special machine, surgeons claim to have successfully transplanted a donor liver that had been kept warm and alive outside the body for three days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The normothermic perfusion method provides the organ with a continuous blood supply, which experts say is superior to the traditional method of freezing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Swiss team suggested that viability could be extended to 10 days in the journal Nature Biotechnology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A year later, the patient who received the warm liver is doing well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Experts hope that the breakthrough will help reduce the number of donor organs that must be discarded, because preserving tissues and organs at low temperatures can cause significant cell damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Extending the time a donor liver can be stored would also allow for greater flexibility in the timing of the transplant operation. Cooled livers are only good for 12 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The machine can also deliver drugs or other nutrients, in addition to blood, to ensure that the organ is in the best possible condition before the transplant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The recipient of the liver, which was placed in the perfusion machine for 68 hours, required a new one due to cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His transplant surgery took place four days after the donor organ was extracted from its original owner, a 29-year-old woman who died in May 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The man was discharged from the hospital 12 days after the surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More research is needed, according to his doctors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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