In a world’s first, that could revolutionise organ transplantation, a team of doctors in Bengaluru have successfully kept donor livers alive outside the body on a new machine before giving them to patients. At present in India, harvested livers are stored in a cold box, and it is advisable to use a liver within eight to 10 hours after retrieval. However, this new machine named OrganOx metra, can keep a liver 'alive' for up to 24 hours after donation.
The OrganOX metra maintains livers for transplant at body temperature, instead of in a cold solution on ice, helps to improve tissue quality and reduce the discard rate of organs that are suitable for transplantation. Mumbai-based doctor Darius Mirza, who was part of this initiative says, “Our first randomized clinical trials show that this method could prolong survival for organ recipients and reduce the death toll among the tens of thousands of patients globally that need donor livers today. Dr Mirza, who shuttles between Apollo Hospital in Nerul, Mumbai and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, believes that this could revolutionise liver transplant for the better.
So far, over 200 patients who have received livers in pilot trials to test the machine at the Bengaluru Hospital have suffered no complications. What would be interesting to see is whether the cost of the overall transplant would bear an impact on how it’s perceived globally. To read full article, click here.