Here at FLASS, Florida Lung, Asthma and Sleep Specialists, we constantly monitor the latest research investigations and experiments in lung disease.
We want to keep our readers and friends informed about progressive innovations.
Introducing the Breathing Lung!
The lung transplant team at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center recently made medical history by performing the first successful “breathing lung” transplant.
The Breathing Lung Tansplant involves the use of a revolutionary organ-preservation device named the Organ Care System. This machine keeps the donor lungs in a warm, functioning and breathing status instead of the traditional method of transportation inside an icebox.
Dr. Abbas Ardehali, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery and director of the heart and lung transplantation program at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center stated, “Organs were never meant to be frozen on ice.”
Presenting: The TransMedics’ OCS Lung Transport Device.
Keep in mind that lungs are very delicate, and begin to degenerate faster than other organs when the donor dies, so it is very important to transport them to the recipient quickly.
Experts have stated, “Due to the ongoing damage incurred by the organs during cold storage, the time available for transplantation is limited and no organ reconditioning is possible.”
They also have said, “When an organ is placed in cold storage, in most cases a transplantation is no longer possible after five hours. If it is nonetheless carried out, then the prognosis for the patient is significantly poorer.”
With the use of the Transmedics OCS transport device, “once the lungs are removed from a donor’s body, they are placed in the high-tech OCS box, where they are immediately revived to a warm, breathing state and perfused with oxygen and a special solution, supplemented with packed red-blood cells.”
If this story sounds a little bit familiar, it might be because it was not long ago that this same team worked with the “heart in a box,” a 
revolutionary experimental technology that allows donor hearts to be delivered to transplant recipients warm and beating rather than frozen in an ice cooler.” The same technology is being used to deliver the cleverly named “breathing lungs.”
Dr. Ardehali, also explained that lungs “can easily be damaged during the donation process. The cold storage method does not allow for reconditioning of the lungs before transplantation, but this promising ‘breathing lung’ technology enables us to potentially improve the function of the donor lungs before they are placed in the recipient.”
Think about it logically. The patient is already weakened with disease and the intense rigors of surgery. Surely warm, “breathing lungs” would be more easily welcomed by the recipient’s body than cold non-breathing lungs.
Other advantages in addition to improving the function of the donor-lung include:
1. Better Assessment: Medical transplant teams will be receiving better assessments of the donor lungs because they can be tested in Transmedics OCS Transport Device, more efficiently and over a longer time period.
2. Expansion of the Donor Pool: In addition, the OCS Lung Transportation Device could help expand the donor pool by allowing donor lungs to be safely transported across longer distances.
“For patients with end-stage lung disease, lung transplantation can dramatically improve the patient’s symptoms and offer relief from severe shortness of breath,” summarized Dr. David Ross, professor of medicine and medical director of UCLA’s lung and heart-lung transplantation program and UCLA’s pulmonary arterial hypertension and thromboendarterectomy program.
It is not difficult to see that the new ‘breathing lung’ transplant technology could potentially improve the traditional transplantation process. Such machines would advance better outcomes for lung disease patients.
There are three parts to this sophisticated piece of medical equipment:
I. The Portable Console with Wireless Monitor – Compact in design, the OCS Lung Transport Device could be loaded into the back of a station wagon if necessary.
It has a wireless monitor “that enables transplant physicians to monitor all clinical parameters of the donor organ and to control the system.” The team can keep track of such data as arterial pressure, gas exchange ratio, vascular resistance, and oxygen status of the perfusion solution.
II. The Perfusion Module – At the heart of the OCS Lung Transport Device is the complex perfusion module, the actual container that holds the lungs in an artificially created environment.
The container simulates breathing at the molecular level, and keeps them warm and perfused, packed with a special solution.
III. The Perfusion Solution – The OCS Lung Transport Device utilizes a special perfusion solution which is supplemented with packed red blood cells. Technicians are thus able to constantly test lung function, and nutrients and substrates. Additionally, the system allows “depleted substrates to be replenished during transport and thus optimizes the condition of the organ.”
Clinical trials, known as INSPIRE are currently under way internationally, to validate the success of OCS Lung Transport Device in comparison to the traditional icebox method.
The Florida Lung, Asthma and Sleep Specialists are happy to see all new developments in transporting life-giving lungs from donor to recipient in optimum condition. We are eager to see what other developments the 21st Century holds for lung disease patients.