Organ transplant procedures have evolved since the first successful kidney transplant; however, there is still a significant shortage of organs worldwide. Further, according to NHS Blood and Transplant stat, over the last decade in the UK alone 6000, among them, 270 infants died before receiving the transplant they needed. On the other hand, physicians and medics continue to discover new approaches to solve the shortage and attempt new transplant procedures to help thousands of needy people ( Opar, 2008). Hence many technologies have developed to respond to the need for available organs for transplant. These technologies include stem cells, 3D organs, and machines that ensure organs remain alive for long outside the human body.
One of the most crucial organ transport systems is the Organ Care System (OCS), a product of TransMedics that contained warm blood perfusion for the transport of organs, yet it was made portable and commercial ( Harris, 2013) . It is designed appropriately to make organ retain their functioning state outside the donor's body, optimize their health for continued clinical tests. Therefore, proprietary technology has made the Organ Care System effective enough to increase the time between removing the organ from a donor's body to the time it is transplanted by reducing time-dependent ischemic injury. Besides, surgeons have enough time to assess how the organ functions outside the human body. Additionally, it facilitates the recovery of the organ and boosts its operation after being extracted from the donor.
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Another technology referred to as Heart in a Box has been invented that keeps donor organs pumping even outside the human body. They do this by maintaining the circulation of warm oxygenated blood through the muscles of the Heart. It is an innovation through which doctors can reanimate the hearts of people who have just died and use them on individuals who need them. While the traditional method of preserving organs using ice can maintain it for three to four hours, the new technology can increase to even six to eight hours. It is a technology that will save more lives as even non-beating hearts can be used for transplantation (Portocarrero, 2016).
Additionally, doctors in Canada invented a technology referred to as the XVIVO Lung Perfusion System to keep lungs viable once harvested from the donor. The fact that they can remain feasible before transplanted gives doctors more time to assess and measure the lungs before transplanted to a recipient (Sifferlin, 2013). Furthermore, these physicians can carry out enhancements on the delicate organ to be healthier than before they took it. This reduces the probability of harvested organs getting damaged, especially when received from a patient who's dying or one who has just died. It is excellent news because doctors will not only preserve the organs but also make them better. It was estimated that the machine could keep lungs that are to be transplanted outside the donor's body for up to 16 hours (Sifferlin, 2013).
Technologies from the 3D bioprinters, scaffolds, heart-in-a-box, ice preservation, living organ transplants, among many others, have made it possible for doctors and researchers to develop better ways and means of undertaking transplantation procedures. They have contributed to significant advances in tissue engineering by giving researchers avenues to create biomaterials and other tissues used in the procedures. The success rates of such procedures as kidney transplantations keep rising, which shows that the current technology being used to carry out these procedures are advantageous. As a result, organ transplants have reduced the mortality rates of individuals suffering from kidney, liver, heart failure, and those whose organs such as their limbs and hands have been damaged. Even though these numbers keep rising by the day, it the future, more and better technology may be invented and applied to the medical procedures that will save more lives.
References
Harris, W. (2013, December 17). How 3-D Bioprinting Works. Retrieved from https://health.howstuffworks.com/medicine/modern-technology/3-d-bioprinting.htm
Opar, A. (2008). As demand for organs expands, so does transplant technology. Nature medicine , 14 (3), 225-225.
Portocarrero, M. (2016). This revolutionary technology is giving people life-saving transplants . Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/this-revolutionary-technology-is-keeping-hearts-beating-outside-the-body-to-allow-for-life-saving-10481530.html
Sifferlin, A. (2013). A Machine That Keeps Organs Alive Outside The Body | 5 Discoveries That Will Change The Future of Organ Transplants. Retrieved from http://healthland.time.com/2013/06/06/5-discoveries-that-will-change-the-future-of-organ-transplants/slide/machine-that-lets-organs-survive/
