Cleaning Up Donor Organs
June 11, 2019 | Terry Sharrer
In order to make donor organs less likely to be rejected, researchers at the University of Toronto and the University of Sao Paulo have developed a new cleansing method. “The technique involves first removing all donor blood from the organ, running a preservation liquid through the organ, and illuminating organs using ultraviolet and red light for about a half hour or so. In order to boost effectiveness, a photosensitizing drug is introduced into the liquid that is activated by the red light, which in turn oxidizes any pathogens nearby. The perfusion aspect is already a standard of care, but it can’t completely get rid of all pathogens, so the light and photosensitizing drug finish off anything left over.” MORE
Image Credit: University of Toronto, University of Sao Paulo and MedGadget.com