"The Rabbit's 'Lie' of Hiding Its Liver Becomes Reality [Reading Science]"

Swiss Zurich University Hospital Research Team Develops Technology to Store and Restore Human Organs for Up to 10 Days
Overcoming Temporal and Physical Limits of Previous 12-Hour Preservation Technology
Considering Application to Other Organs, Donation and Transplantation Expected to Increase

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] In the pansori 'Sugungga,' the rabbit lied to the Dragon King that it had "removed and hidden its liver," allowing it to escape to the land. Now, in the human world, modern medical technology has been developed that can externally extract a liver and preserve it for up to 10 days. This expands the possibilities for utilizing damaged livers and overcomes temporal and physical limitations. It is noted that hope has increased for patients waiting for liver transplants.

According to the American daily The Washington Post (WP) on the 5th (local time), a research team at the University Hospital of Zurich, Switzerland, published a paper on this topic in the international journal Nature Biotechnology on the 31st of last month. Although many liver transplant surgeries are currently performed, the maximum preservation time for a liver extracted from a donor's body is only about 12 hours. Especially during transport, it still relies on iceboxes without any special means.

Through about five years of research, the team developed a device that maintains a temperature of 37 degrees Celsius, which is 0.5 degrees higher than the human body temperature (36.5 degrees Celsius), creates organs mimicking the heart and kidneys, connects them to the extracted liver, attaches tubes to supply nutrients and hormones, removes toxins, and administers antibiotics. This device can preserve the liver for up to 10 days after extraction and also has the function to repair damaged liver tissue to a transplantable level.

The research team also succeeded in verifying the performance of this device through actual testing. They received a liver that was destined to be discarded due to a tumor, improved its condition to a suitable state by administering antibiotics and other treatments through the device for three days, and then transplanted it into a patient. The team stated in the paper, "The transplanted patient showed no complications, which means that the device successfully regenerated and preserved the liver." The team plans to conduct additional clinical trials with 24 patients starting next year and will subsequently apply for formal approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European authorities. They are also considering applying this method to other organs besides the liver. The team explained, "It will take about two years before it can be used in hospitals. Although slight modifications to the device will be necessary, this method can be applied to the preservation of other organ tissues."

Other medical professionals have also expressed their enthusiasm. Shane Ottmann, a transplant surgeon at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the U.S., said, "Storing extracted livers on ice with the current method has temporal and physical limitations, and there is not enough time to improve the organ's condition to a transplantable level." He added, "Using this technology could drastically reduce the number of livers that are donated but ultimately discarded." However, he noted that FDA approval and the presumably high cost of the device and its operation could be obstacles.