A study published in Science Translational Medicine has successfully found a way to convert the blood type of lungs intended for transplant using ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP), making them universal blood-type organs. These findings have the potential to revolutionize organ transplantation by improving fairness in donor organ allocation.
“With the current matching system, wait times can be considerably longer for patients who need a transplant depending on their blood type, explains Dr. Marcelo Cypel, Surgical Director of the Ajmera Transplant Centre and the senior author of the study.
Having universal organs means we could eliminate the blood-matching barrier and prioritize patients by medical urgency, saving more lives and wasting less organs, adds Dr. Cypel, who is also a thoracic surgeon at UHN’s Sprott Department of Surgery, a Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto and the Canada Research Chair in Lung Transplantation.”
