A Human Liver Can Be Cooled to –4 Degrees Celsius and Survive
On ice, a liver destined for transplant can last nine, maybe 12 hours. A lot must happen in this time: The liver must be flown to another hospital, a surgical team assembled, an operating room prepped, a recipient rushed into surgery, and the diseased liver carefully removed. Each hour on ice, the liver deteriorates; too many hours, and it will never function in a human body again. Ice can only do so much to slow biological time.
For this reason—along with the sobering statistic that waiting for a transplant—doctors and scientists have long sought ways to preserve organs. Biologists now report a tested on five human livers: supercooling the organ to 4 degrees Celsius below zero, or just under 25 degrees Fahrenheit. This is below the freezing point of water, but the liver, perfused with a special, a bioengineer now at Massachusetts General Hospital and co-author of the new study.
