LA JOLLA, Calif. (KGTV) - The future of organ transportation may be passing through La Jolla.
Physicians at Scripps Green Hospital recently moved a donated liver from Escondido to La Jolla in a new transport system before successfully transplanting it into a police officer.
The effort was part of a clinical trial evaluating the transportation system, known as OCS (Organ Care System) Liver, at several major transplant medical centers across the United States.
“It’s almost like putting the organ back in the body right away,” said Christopher Marsh, M.D, organ transplant surgeon and division head of Scripps Center for Organ and Cell Transplantation.
The OCS is relatively larger than a microwave and pumps oxygenated blood along with other nutrients to the livers in transit.
“We are constantly challenged by a shortage of livers to meet the transplant needs of our patients,” added Marsh, “warm perfusion transportation has the potential to expand the supply of organs that are available to our patients and, as a result, improve the chances of a successful transplant and a positive long-term health outcome for more of our patients.”
Scripps expect to enroll nine more patients using the mechanical system in the clinical trial over the next year.
