Here are four things to know.
1. Current transplant methodology — used for the last 50 years — calls for removing the organ from the donor, flushing it with a saline solution and putting it on ice before quickly transporting it to the recipient’s hospital.
2. Perfusion devices, which use ex vivo warm perfusion technology to keep organs functioning at body temperature, extend the amount of time organs can stay outside of the human body before a transplant, according to the report. This allows clinicians to better monitor the organs’ health prior to implantation, administer antibiotics and other treatments as needed, and ultimately transport organs across farther distances.
3. One such perfusion device is TransMedics’ Organ Care System — nicknamed the “beating heart in a box” — which pumps “warm, oxygenated and nutrient-enriched blood” into a donor organ, according to the report. The device contains a sterile plastic box to house the organ that’s mounted on a cart containing an oxygen tank, blood supply, batteries and monitoring equipment, according to NBC News.
“The organ believes that it’s still in the body,” says Waleed Hassanein, MD, president and CEO of TransMedics, told NBC News. “The heart is beating. The lung is breathing. The liver is making bile. The kidneys are making urine.”
4. Clinicians have performed more than 815 successful organ transplants in other countries using TransMedics’ perfusion devices, according to the report. The Food and Drug Administration is currently reviewing the company’s Organ Care System for use in lung transplants in the U.S. Several other local and international companies are developing similar devices using the perfusion technology, according to NBC News.
More articles on supply chain:
Bristol-Myers susceptible to acquisition following failed cancer trial, investors say
FDA approves Qiagen’s TB blood test: 3 things to know
7% of cancer patients say pharma prices drugs fairly: 5 survey findings
