A new medical device can store hearts for transplants later

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.

Tuesday 08 Sep 2015 - 17:23 Makkah mean time-24-11-1436 Boston, (IINA) - If a newly developed piece of medical device gets approved for use in the United States, the number of hearts available for transplants in America can substantially increase to almost 30 percent, Daily Times Gazette reported quoting sources at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  The new technology that has been developed in Massachusetts can keep a heart alive. The Technology Review stated that the particular device called TransMedics’ Organ Care System (OCS) is a form of sterile chamber that contains oxygen, blood and supply of other nutrients essential to keep a heart alive and pumping outside of the body until it is ready to be utilized in a transplant. A transplant normally occurs when a donor is brain-dead but his/her circulatory systems are still functional. However, there is always a shortage of donor hearts because of availability of fewer cases where a patient is declared brain-dead. According to certain doctors, approval of the new device can increase the number of hearts donated for transplant by almost 30%. In conclusion, The OCS allows the surgeons to be able to remove the heart from the donor’s body and later reawaken it for the transplant. The downside, however, is that the device is expensive, one piece costs almost $ 250,000 at present. AG/IINA