24 April 07 - New Hope for Transplant Patients - Organs can be Kept Alive Outside the BodyA pioneering device that allows organs to be kept 'alive' outside the body could dramatically improve the success of transplants and provide new ways of treating tumours and liver disease. Scientists at the University of Oxford have managed to disconnect a liver from the body's blood supply and keep it functioning on an artificial blood circuit for more than 72 hours - four times the current time limit. It is hoped that this technique will be used on other organs such as the lungs, kidneys and pancreas, and that it will be possible to transplant organs that would previously have been unusable. The first clinical trials are now being planned, and there is hope that the procedure will be widely used within five years. Peter Friend, a Transplantation Professor at the University of Oxford said: "We think it will not only improve the results of a transplant, but it will also go some considerable way towards making more organs available, as we can start to use organs that are currently declined as they are not suitable." "In the longer term, we also envisage carrying out therapeutic approaches such as chemotherapy by isolating the organ from the rest of the body, treating it with the drug and reconnecting it without having to remove it." Surgeons currently rely on donors who have been declared clinically dead but whose hearts are still beating. Lack of oxygen and the need to store organs on ice during transport can cause severe damage. The new method is a break-through in that it will allow the transplant of organs from patients whose hearts have stopped for up to an hour and the use of damaged organs. There is currently a desperate shortage of organ donors in the UK. More than 7,200 patients in Britain are currently waiting for organ transplants, but only 3,000 such operations were carried out last year. Researchers hope the new method will increase the number of organs viable for transplantation by more than 50 per cent. Organ Donation Saves Lives. You can sign up to the NHS Organ Donor Register by clicking here
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