Human liver machine live 24 hours outside the body

On March 15, 2013, a British team announced that it had successfully developed a machine that could keep people's liver alive for up to 24 hours.

This team of physicians, engineers and surgeons has been working on this machine since 1994, with the support of OrganOx, in partnership with Oxford University. So far, the machine has tested the liver for two successful liver transplants in the UK.

The machine is based on a mechanism that keeps the liver functioning normally as it is in the human body, through a system that supplies blood through the capillaries as well as the bile ducts produced outside the human body. , keeping the liver warm for 24 hours or more.

The advantages of a liver transplant machine will overcome the limitations of traditional healing methods based on cold stone. Low temperatures of cold stone slow metabolism and limit the breakdown of the liver. However, it only holds the liver for less than 14 hours, which can lead to liver failure and can not be transplanted to the patient.

The team is planning to test another 20 patients and will launch it in 2014. They hope to bring positive results for many liver transplants.

An estimated 13,000 liver transplants are performed each year in Europe and the United States. But up to a quarter of the 30,000 patients who die while waiting for a liver transplant. In addition, more than 2,000 donor liver transplants are discarded each year due to lack of oxygen or loss of storage during cold storage.