EVLP
About
Ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) provides a novel approach to lung rehabilitation and assessment following donor organ harvest. EVLP has fostered a renewed hope for donor lung rehabilitation and assessment for transplantation, demonstrating promise within clinical trials utilizing high-risk donor lungs for successful transplantation. The rehabilitation of injured, marginal donor lungs is a principle focus for the advancement of this technology. The use of donation after cardiac death (DCD) lungs remains limited within the United States, accounting for <5% of lung transplants despite the international demonstration of comparable outcomes for DCD and standard brain death donor transplantation. Thus EVLP has inspired renewed interest in the utilization of DCD lungs to significantly increase the donor organ pool size. One of our projects evaluates EVLP as a platform for pharmacologic delivery of agents to determine if treatment during EVLP will rehabilitate DCD lungs for successful transplantation.
Porcine EVLP:
Human EVLP:
