Unlike the kidneys or the heart, there is no way to substitute a machine for the liver. The future of patients awaiting a transplant is therefore very uncertain. An incredible experiment carried out by researchers could be a game-changer and save many lives.
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What if patients awaiting liver transplants could have their own “dialysis” system – a method of treating blood that helps keep people with severe kidney failure alive?
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania successfully circulated blood from a healthy donor brain deathbrain death through a liverliver genetically modified pork. The donor liver remained in place, while a porcine liver was connected to the body using blood-carrying tubes.
The first results showed that the porcine liver showed no signs ofinflammationinflammation liver during the 72 hours that the experiment lasted, and that the donor’s body remained physiologically very stable. Further studies on three other brain-dead donors are now expected to take place.
A method that could save many lives
If they confirm these excellent results and the method proves safe, this could make it possible to grant additional time to patients in critical condition in order to keep them until a transplant. A major advance, since the most seriously ill patients were until now doomed in the absence of an available graft. This method could also be used in patients with liver injuries and lesions, in order to relieve the organ while it recovers.
“This milestone brings us closer to a future where we can offer effective treatments for acute hepatic decompensation”, said Dr. Peter Friend, medical director of OrganOx in a statement. The research teams also paid tribute to the donor’s family, without whose generosity such a discovery would not have been possible.
