On some level, the human liver in the operating room at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago was alive.
Blood circulating through its tissues delivered oxygen and removed waste products, and the organ produced bile and proteins that are essential to the body.
The organ owed its vitality to this machine, which was preserving it for transplantation into a needy patient.
Surgeons are experimenting with organs from genetically modified animals, hinting at a future when they could be a source for transplants.
But the field is already undergoing a paradigm shift, driven by technologies in widespread use that allow clinicians to temporarily store organs outside the body.
Persons:
“, ”, Daniel Borja
Organizations:
Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Surgeons
Locations:
Chicago