Ocs Research Papers

OCS (Organ Care System)

What is it? The Organ Care System (or OCS for short) is a device created by TransMedics INC and allows for soon to be transplanted organs like hearts and lungs to remain outside of a host body for longer. The OCS works by transporting warm blood, oxygenated, and nutrient rich blood to the donated organ, thusly, prolonging the time the organ can remain outside of a body (1).
History of transplants: The very first successful heart transplant performed in humans was in 1967 by South African doctors (2). The transplant was performed by Dr. Christiaan Barnard and was done at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town (3). The recipient of the donated heart was Louis Washkansky and received the heart of donor Denise Darvall. Though
The transplant was led by Dr. Thomas Starzl and took place at the University of Colorado. The first successful transplant, on the other hand, took place 13 years before the first successful heart and liver transplant. On December 23, 1954, the first ever successful transplant of any kind (specifically the kidneys) was performed by Dr. David Hume and Dr. Joseph Murray at Brigham Hospital in Boston (4). The transplant was performed on Ronald Herrick, and he received one of his brother's, Richard's, kidneys. Since then, over 5000 heart transplants are performed worldwide each year, with over 2000 of those happening in the US (2).
How does it work? The Organ Care System was developed based on TransMedics' warm blood perfusion technology (5). The OCS is designed to: increase the amount of time an organ can be maintained outside the body, provide surgeons the opportunity to assess the function of organs when they are outside of the body, and enable resuscitation of the organ and the potential to improve the function after removal from the donor (5). Currently, there are four OCS built and designed for four organs: the heart, the liver, the kidneys,
The headquarters of TransMedics is located in Andover, Massachusetts and began commercial operations in 2000. TransMedics' most notable achievement was the creation of the OCS, the first commercial, portable warm blood perfusion system that allows for a living organ transplant. TransMedics has claimed that the OCS could potentially increase organ availability as well as improve outcomes for the growing population of patients in need of a transplant (13). TransMedics has a mission to enable more patients in need of a transplant to benefit from the accepted medical standard of care — organ transplantation (13). Through this, TransMedic sees the potential to: increase the number of available organs, improve patient outcomes and reducing recovery time, increase hospital stays and reliance on ongoing medical therapies (13). Dr. Waleed Hassanein (founder and president of TransMedics) said: "We feel very comfortable and confident in the Organ Care System's ability to at least double the heart transplant volume over the next 5 years."; Dr. Hassanein also hopes that the OCS will one day become part of the standard training for surgeons (2).
Transplant statistics:
• The global amount of patients waiting for organs will surpass 200000 by the end of the decade (13).
• Over 94000 patients are waiting for organs in the US