Transplant Surgeon Questions Transplant Surgeon

Liver transplant?

Being a recipient of a liver transplant myself I learned a lot about the procedure. This includes viability. My donor was in the next Bay from my room so the liver was essentially still active when it was transferred to me. I was informed this was the best scenario to better improve the longer life span of the transplanted liver. I was also told that if transferred, for example, to another hospital that time would cause the liver to degrade quickly. My question is this. Can you hook up a liver to a heart-lung machine to extend the viability of the liver for transport to another location extending the viability of the organ? Just something to think about.

Male | 65 years old
Complaint duration: 1/1/1
Medications: 0
Conditions: liver

1 Answer

Not really, they would have to use stem cells for longer viability.