U.S. trial test machine that ‘reconditions’ lungs outside body

(Reuters) – A machine that ‘reconditions’ a donor’s lungs outside the body before being transplanted into a recipient is undergoing tests in the United States in the hope that it can radically improve survival rates for people with chronic respiratory diseases. The XPS, manufactured by Swedish company XVIVO Perfusion , is in clinical trials at 16 U.S. medical centers. Known as “the box,” it ventilates the lungs after removal from the donor and infuses them with a fluid mix of drugs and steroids, effectively drying them out and getting them in better shape for use in a transplant operation. The technology, which has not been used widely before, aims to increase the donor pool by reconditioning marginal lungs not suitable for transplant. “It allows the lungs to stay alive … and allows us as providers to assess the function of the organ in a unique, well-controlled environment,” said Dr. Varun Puri, an associate professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Washington University in St. Louis. The XPS, which is under test at Washington University, Duke University Medical Center, New York-Presbyterian Hospital and more than a dozen other U.S. sites, has been cleared for use in Europe and Canada and was approved for clinical trials by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a Humanitarian Use Device. Michele Coleman, 63, credits ‘the box’ with saving her life. A former smoker, she was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pul...
Source: Mass Device - Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Tags: Respiratory XVIVO Perfusion Source Type: news