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Post by David on Mar 15, 2015 21:42:42 GMT -5
WOW! Machine keeps lungs 'alive' outside the body
on.wtsp.com/1GaTdXU
DETROIT — The medical marvel that saved Kyle Clark's life is about as fantastical as any story the comic books superfan could conceive.
A new machine developed by the University of Michigan keeps donor lungs "alive" outside the human body for up to six hours. That gives doctors critical extra time to inspect the lungs as the machine pumps special fluid through them, essentially "reconditioning" them for transplant, said Dr. Paul Lange, the medical director for Gift of Life Michigan.
He calls it a "game changer" that will preserve lungs that might otherwise get thrown away as unusable.
"People die every day on waiting lists for transplants," he said.
Clark, 25, of Imlay City, Mich., was the first in Michigan to get lungs from the new XVIVO Perfusion System — XPS, for short. He jokes it might be more believable to tell people a charging bear slashed open his chest. Reality, he said, is "like something out of science fiction."
Clark was born with cystic fibrosis, a genetic condition that triggers mucus buildup in the lungs and other organs. That not only makes it difficult to breathe and digest food, it can lead to infection, lung failure and early death. Life expectancy varies, depending on the severity of the disease in each person.
He can finally breathe, he said, but only after life-saving surgery last month and a harrowing wait that almost killed him.
In Clark's case, the XPS not only kept a pair of donor lungs "alive" for him but also flushed them out so they could be reused. Without the machine, they would have been rejected and thrown away, his doctor said after the surgery.
"I feel great," Clark said last week from his hospital room. "I can't remember the last time I felt this way."
Robin Erb, Detroit Free Press
 (Photo: Jessica J. Trevino, Detroit Free Press)
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Post by David on Mar 15, 2015 21:48:23 GMT -5
XVIVO Perfusion System — XPS, for short
www.xvivoperfusion.com/products/normothermic-perfusion/xps-xvivo-perfusion-system/
The XPS, which looks part Zamboni and part robot waiter with a dinner platter, pushes a specialized solution through the pulmonary artery and out the left atrium, giving the illusion the disembodied lungs are breathing on their own, rising and falling in ghostly rhythmic patterns, as they are examined inside and out.
Doctors get an extra four to six hours to feel them, eyeball them, X-ray them, use scopes to check them internally and test them to determine whether they are adequately exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide.
Clark was the 67th patient in the U.S. — the fourth with cystic fibrosis — to receive lungs from the XVIVO Perfusion System.
Robin Erb, Detroit Free Press
www.wtsp.com/story/news/nation/2015/03/15/lungs-kept-alive-machine-transplant/24817511/
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Post by stoker55 on Mar 16, 2015 8:55:49 GMT -5
Thanks David that is really awesome news!
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Post by David on Mar 16, 2015 10:27:05 GMT -5
This part of the article was interesting news.
In Clark's case, the XPS not only kept a pair of donor lungs "alive" for him but also flushed them out so they could be reused. Without the machine, they would have been rejected and thrown away, his doctor said after the surgery.
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