Scientists have developed a new supercooling technique to increase the amount of time human organs could remain viable outside the body.
According to researchers, if it succeeds in humans, it would enable a world wide allocation of donor organs, saving more lives and allow for more time to prepare the patient and ease logistics at the donor hospital site, reduce the urgency of rushing the organ to its destination, and expand the donation area to allow for transcontinental and intercontinental transplantations.
The researchers said that the technology would also increase the chances of patients finding better matches while simultaneously significantly reducing costs.
Martin Yarmush, M.D., Ph.D., and Korkut Uygun, Ph.D., investigators in the Center for Engineering in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Boston, have developed the preservation technique that has tripled the amount of time that rat livers can be stored before transplantation.
