WEDNESDAY, Oct. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Donor lungs can be safely preserved and successfully transplanted with the Organ Care System (OCS) Lung device, according to a pilot study published online Oct. 10 in The Lancet.
Gregor Warnecke, M.D., from the Hanover Medical School in Germany, and colleagues report the first-in-man experience of the portable OCS for concomitant preservation, assessment, and transport of donor lungs (from eight female and four males) into seven female and five male recipients. Lungs were perfused with low-potassium dextran solution and explanted. They were then connected immediately to the OCS Lung device and perfused with Steen's solution which was supplemented with two red-cell concentrates.
The researchers found that the ratio of partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2) to fractional concentration of oxygen in inspired air (FIO2) was 463.9 in preharvest donors. Measured with the OCS Lung, the final ratio of PaO2 to FIO2 was 471.58. There was no significant difference between these ratios. At 30 days, all grafts and patients survived and all recipients recovered and were discharged from hospital.
"Lungs can be safely preserved with the OCS Lung, resulting in complete organ use and successful transplantation in our series of high-risk recipients," the authors write. "In November 2011, we began recruitment for a prospective, randomized, multicenter trial (INSPIRE) to compare preservation with OCS Lung with standard cold storage."
The study was funded in part by TransMedics, the manufacturer of the OCS Lung.
Abstract
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