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June 7, 2020 A liver that was artificially kept alive for almost a day has been successfully transplanted to the Molinette of the City of Health in Turin. Over 23 hours, first in the body of a woman who died of a sudden heart attack, the donor, then in special perfusion machines.

In sequence, the most innovative organ preservation technologies currently available have been implemented. The liver was successfully transplanted, as were the two kidneys, and the three recipient patients have just been discharged.

The research, explain from the Molinette hospital, has identified the possibility of "treating" and "making the organs live outside the body" before the transplant.

At the time of organ harvesting, the transplant teams were already engaged in two liver and two kidney transplants. It was therefore necessary to position the organs of the donor within 'ex vivo' or extra-bodily preservation systems.

After the initial five hours inside the donor, they continued to be kept alive outside thanks to human blood.

The liver was treated and evaluated for its correct functioning for another 16 hours by means of 'normothermic perfusion', with a special perfusion machine capable of keeping a liver alive outside the body for up to 24 hours.

The kidneys were instead preserved in 'oxygenated hypothermic perfusion', or at 12 degrees with the addition of oxygen, using another special perfusion machine for a total duration of 10 hours.