A new machine could give lung transplant surgeons more time to assess whether the organs are healthy enough for the procedure.
Usually, doctors performing lung surgery only have three to four hours to transplant a set of lungs once the donor patient has expired. The XVIVO Perfusion System, or XPS, could allow doctors to keep the lungs "alive" outside the body and give them more time to determine whether the organs are viable for transplant, according to USA Today. The goal is to keep the lungs sustainable for a few days and give them time to heal before transplant.
"I've been in medicine for years, and I still think it's wild ... almost science fiction," said Dr. Paul Lange, medical director of Gift of Life Michigan. Gift of Life has collaborated with the University of Michigan, and Henry Ford and Spectrum health systems to complete a national clinical trial using the $250,000 piece of equipment.
The XPS machine warms lungs to body temperature and continuously flushes the lung tissue with a sterile fluid solution called STEEN Solution, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The solution preserves the lungs and removes waste products.
The machine also ventilates the lungs and keeps the lungs supplied with oxygen. This gives doctors the ability to examine the lungs' airwaves with a bronchoscope.
The lungs and heart can't survive outside the body for more than three or four hours, and only 20 percent are deemed usable for potential transplants, according to USA Today. More than 1,900 lungs were transplanted in the U.S. last year, but 354 patients on the waiting list died or became too sick to receive them.
"There are so many people who can't get transplants and they die," said Dr. William Lynch, a Michigan transplant surgeon.
The FDA approved the XPS machine for use in human lungs on Aug. 12. It received a Humanitarian Use Device (HUD) designation, which means a patient must have exhausted all other options to be eligible for lungs recovered using the XPS technology. Canada and Europe have used the machine either as "a temporary bridge to lung transplants or to evaluate the health of lungs awaiting transplant," according to USA Today.