Rafiq Islam,(Kansas City): Scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston report in Nature Biotechnology that they have extended the amount of time human livers can be stored for transplantation by modifying the existing method. Currently human livers are viable only for an average of 9 hours, but the new method of preservation maintains liver tissue for up to 27 hours, giving doctors and patients much longer timeframe to work with. Three new steps were added to the protocol to prevent ice nucleation and preserve human livers longer are: limit the contact of the storage liquid to air; add trehalose and glycerol to the protective solution, and use machine perfusion to deliver the preservation solution to the liver.
Liver failure means it is losing or has lost all of its function. It is a life-threatening condition that demands urgent medical care. Most often, liver failure occurs gradually and over many years. However, a more rare condition known as acute liver failure occurs rapidly (in as little as 48 hours) and can be difficult to detect initially.
Over 20,000 liver transplants worldwide and roughly 7000 in the US with 2nd most in China. An average waiting time for a liver transplant is 149 days for adults and 86 days for children. Liver transplant usually has excellent outcomes. While one can’t live without a liver completely, can live with only part of one, as liver can grow back to full size within a matter of months. Recipients have been known to live a normal life over 30 years after the operation. By the time of 3-month mark, liver will probably reach its normal size and recipient can back to regular routine. However it is very costly: in the US the total cost for a liver transplant from 30 days prior to transplant to 6 months after transplant was estimated on average over half a million dollar.