Medicine
With the new “heart in a box,” developed by Transmedics, heart transplant success rates may climb substantially. The OCS Heart uses a technique called warm perfusion to keep a heart supplied with blood and oxygen for up to eight hours. |
A new device that can keep a heart pumping outside the body is already being used to save lives. The OCS Heart, also known as the “heart in a box,” was developed by Transmedics as a way to enable more heart transplants for patients in need. The device uses a technique called warm perfusion to keep a heart supplied with blood and oxygen for up to eight hours. That’s roughly double the viability time of a heart kept on ice. In addition to keeping a donor heart viable longer, the OCS Heart may allow doctors to be less picky about which hearts can be transplanted.
How Does the OCS Heart Change the Process?
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In many cases, the dying patient’s body can’t be maintained through a ventilator, and the heart stops beating. These organs are not usually used for transplant. By the time the heart stops, the tissue is starved of oxygen, causing the cells to deteriorate quickly. Putting it on ice wouldn’t be enough to keep the heart viable. That’s where the OCS Heart comes in. With a fresh supply of oxygenated blood, the heart can start beating again, sometimes even on its own. The tissue is reinvigorated, and deterioration is put on hold.
The Future of Organ Transplants
The ability to use hearts that have stopped beating for transplant could dramatically increase the number of donor organs available. Estimates suggest that the OCS Heart could increase the number of heart transplants by 30 percent, saving hundreds of lives. Right now there simply aren’t enough hearts for everyone who needs them. Only 2,400 heart transplants are performed in the U.S. each year, and that figure has been stagnant for two decades.
Although still under clinical investigation in the U.S., the OCS Heart has already been used in at least 15 successful transplants in the U.K. and Australia. Unfortunately, the cost of the device could be prohibitive to widespread adoption, at least at first. Transmedics received more than $100 million in total funding to develop the OCS Heart. To recoup that cost, the device currently sells for around a quarter of a million dollars.
The OCS Heart is one of many examples of technology being used to improve health care. Around the world, companies are finding new ways to help patients in need, including 3D printing organs and other life-saving technologies.
Technology Is Saving Lives
Transmedics isn’t the only company working on keeping organs alive outside the human body. Several other startups, including Organ Assist, OrganOx and Organ Solution, are developing devices using similar technology. Not all will be used for heart transplants, however. Warm perfusion can theoretically be used on a number of other organs. Organ Solution in particular is seeking a way to improve the odds for patients who need a liver transplant. With 16,000 people on the U.S. waiting list and less than 7,000 liver transplants performed each year, most patients die before they get a chance at a new liver.In the modern world, science and medicine go hand in hand. With new high-tech medical devices being developed all the time, we’re seeing the beginnings of a trend that could forever change health care and save millions of lives.
Top Image by DarkoStojanovic
| By Kayla Matthews | Embed |
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