PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) -- Temple doctors are now using a recently approved machine to transport lungs for transplantation.
The TransMedics Organ Care System for Lung, or OCS Lung, lets doctors transport the organs in a warm chamber, that provides oxygenated blood to keep the donor lungs breathing en route to the transplant surgery. Dr. Yoshiya Toyoda, William Maul Measey chair of surgery at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University and chief of cardiovascular surgery at Temple University Hospital says it also allows him to check on the condition of the lungs every step of the journey.
"How well the lungs oxygenate and how well lungs remove CO2 . So those assessments we can do while perfusing in this machine. This also helps us assess the quality of the lungs," Toyoda said.
He says this is a better way to move the lungs from donor to recipient.
"This potentially keeps the lungs in better condition than the traditional, conventional way. In the conventional way, we just put the lungs in ice, in a cooler box, to transport. But during the transportation with this machine, we can keep perfusing the lungs."
Last year, Temple doctors performed 145 lung transplant surgeries.