Researchers say their goals are to one day increase the supply of human organs for transplant by allowing doctors to obtain viable organs long after death. Photograph: Josep Lago/Getty ImagesThe pigs had been lying dead in the lab for an hour. No blood was circulating in their bodies; their hearts were still, their brain waves flat. Then a group of Yale scientists pumped a custom-made solution into the dead pigs’ bodies with a device similar to a heart-lung machine.
But the findings are just a first step, says Stephen Latham, a bioethicist at Yale University in the US who worked closely with the group. The technology, he emphasised, is “very far away from use in humans”. That led them to ask if they could revive an entire body, says Dr Zvonimir Vrselja, another member of the Yale team.
Yale has filed for a patent on the technology. The next step, Sestan says, will be to see if the organs function properly and could be successfully transplanted. Sometime after that, the researchers hope to test whether the method can repair damaged hearts or brains. In most countries, Dr Porte says there is a five-minute “no touch” policy after the respirator is turned off and before transplant surgeons remove organs. But, he says, “before you rush to the OR, additional minutes will pass by,” and by that time, organs can be so damaged as to be unusable. And sometimes patients do not die immediately when life support is ceased, but their hearts beat too feebly for their organs to stay healthy.
The other comment was by Brendan Parent, a lawyer and ethicist who is director of transplant ethics and policy research at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine.