J.Jpn. Surg. Soc.. 99(11): 776-780, 1998

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Feature topic

ORGAN PRESERVATION

Organ preservation is currently performed by simple cold storage or continuous hypothermic perfusion. Cold storage using University of Wisconsin (UW) solution greatly prolongs the successful preservation period for abdominal organs such as the kidney, liver, and pancreas. Thoracic organs (heart, lung), however, can be preserved for only several hours even with UW solution.
As a result of improvements in organ transplantation, the number of patients on waiting lists has grown rapidly. Unfortunately, many patients die while waiting for donor organs, and expansion of the donor pool is mandatory. Possible solutions to the shortage of donor organs include the use of marginal donors and non-heart-beating donors. For this purpose, more sophisticated methods of organ preservation are needed, and therefore extensive investigations using current technologies including gene transfer should be performed. Every effort should be made to accommodate the preferences of donors.

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