This Machine Can Keep A Sick Liver Alive For A Week, Repair It For Transplant And Save Lives

A patient's wait for a body part transplant can get really long and difficult as doctors don¡¯t find healthy body parts to enable the transplant and help the patient live a healthy life. However, researchers at ETH Zurich in Switzerland might have a device that could help eliminate this wait entirely.

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Researchers have developed a one-of-a-kind machine that can repair injured livers, as well as stay alive outside a human¡¯s body, for a week. According to researchers, the liver can regain full function while saving the lives of people suffering from liver disease.

First published in journal Nature Biology, researchers call the device a complex perfusion system that supports the organs by simulating bodily functions of the liver.

This machine could be very helpful in the case of transplants. For example, if a person is in need of a liver, but no healthy liver is available in time, an unhealthy liver can be fixed and made healthy using this machine.

The project started in 2015, and in the initial stages, the liver could only survive in the machine for 12 hours. However, over time they have perfected the machine and made it capable to run perfusion of poor-quality livers for seven days that has enabled the application of various strategies like repairing injuries, cleansing of fat deposits as well as regeneration of partial livers.

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The machine showcased its calibre by curing six out of 10 poor quality livers, recovering them to full-function with just one week in the machine.

Pierre-Alain Clavien, study co-author from ETH Zurich said in a statement, "The success of this unique perfusion system -- developed over a four-year period by a group of surgeons, biologists, and engineers -- paves the way for many new applications in transplantation and cancer medicine helping patients with no liver grafts available.¡±