(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Northwestern Medicine surgeons are using technology that allows them to test out donor lungs and repair them before transplanting them in a patient.
The XPS™ device from XVIVO is nicknamed “lungs in a box.” This describes how the organs are enclosed in a container and hooked up to a ventilator so that they can be assessed.
Of all solid organs that can be transplanted, lungs have the lowest utilization, with only one in five donated lungs getting transplanted, Northwestern officials said.
“EVLP allows us to take donor lungs outside the body, attach them to a ventilator and make them clinically usable by treating infection, inflammation and edema – it’s visually stunning,” said Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery at Northwestern Medicine, referring to the process of ex vivo lung perfusion.
“EVLP will give us the ability to fix lungs that don’t appear usable up front.”
In January 2022, Northwestern Medicine surgeons used the technology for the first time to secure viable lungs for Mike Piwowar, a 65-year-old from Waukegan, Ill., who was waiting for a lung transplant due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
“It’s pretty amazing that they could do something like ‘lungs in box.’ My first thought went to the old movie, Frankenstein, where they keep organs alive outside the body,” his wife, Debbie Piwowar, said in a news release. “Before his transplant, Mike was struggling to breathe and walk. Now, thanks to his new lungs, he’s getting so much stronger. I can’t wait to see him go fishing again.”
Northwestern Medicine performed 73 lung transplants in 2021. April is National Donate Life Month, which raises awareness about the importance of organ donation.