A research team from Columbia University develops strategy to extend donor organ life

Orange County, CA - March 10th 2017 - There are over 119,000 people waiting for an organ transplant in the United States with another person being added every 10 minutes. With only 3 in every 1000 people dying in a way that their organs can be harvested, each day 22 people on the waiting list die. When organs become available for transplant surgery, transportation is of the upmost importance as organs quickly lose function outside the body. Lungs in particular can only last about 6 hours outside of the body and when evaluated after transportation to medical centers, four out of five lungs are rejected.

To better utilize the lungs given by donors, a multidisciplinary team from Columbia University has discovered a way of maintaining lung functionality outside of the body for days as well as recover damaged organs. Their study was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

The team was led by Mikati Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medical Sciences at Columbia Engineering, Gordana Vunjak-Novakovi, and Matt Bacchetta, associate professor of surgery at Columbia University Medical Center, who have been exploring w opportunities for improvement in this sector over the past five years. Initial testing used a stem cell therapy on the lungs to use in place of defective cells, but the lungs could not survive long enough outside of the body for functioning to improve.

A research team from Columbia University develops strategy to extend donor organ life

This inspired the team to revisit a practice from the 1960’s called cross circulation, a procedure used to exchange blood flow between two patients. This provides critical systemic and metabolic factors to the organs by giving long term support that isn’t part of most modern technologies.

Our cross-circulation platform will likely allow us to extend the duration of support to a week or longer if needed, potentially enabling the recovery of severely damaged organs,” said co-lead author and PhD candidate John O’Neill. “Beyond prolonging support time, we also demonstrated several therapeutic interventions that vastly improve and accelerate recovery.”

While developing their cross-circulation technique, the team had to overcome issues like preserving the outer surface of the lung, maintaining temperature, and developing a perfusion circuit. To prevent the lung from becoming arid and under temperature, the team designed a humidification system with ambient temperature control and an organ basin that circulated warm water to simulate the chest cavity.

The perfusion circuit required the team to develop a system capable of height and hydrostatic pressure adjustments as well as feedback-regulated pressure-controlled flow. They also created ways of delivering drugs and cells to specific areas of the lungs to prevent unnecessary lung biopsies through image-guided techniques.

The team has already begun studies to research recovering other organs, such as kidneys and livers, with this technique.

Our goal was to develop a platform that harnesses the full potential of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine toward organ rescue. We hope that our unique technology will benefit the many patients in need and help them live fuller and happier lives,” says Vunjak-Novakovic.

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A research team from Columbia University develops strategy to extend donor organ life Orange County, CA – March 10th 2017 – There are over 119,000 people waiting for an organ transplant in the United States with another person being added every 10 minutes. With only 3 in every 1000 people dying in a way that their […]