Must Read: Newest Breakthrough in Rewarming of Preserved Organs Could Save Lives!

A new scientific breakthrough in cryobiology could save lives of hundreds of people who are waiting for organ transplants. This breakthrough could lessen the critical shortage of organs that lead to thousands of death each year.

A team of researchers from the University of Minnesota had successfully rewarmed a large-scale heart valves and blood vessels. This makes it possible for cryogenically frozen organs to be rewarmed and reused for transplanting.

Cryopreservation has been around since the mid-1980, wherein organs are cooled in ultra-low temperatures which range between -160 and -196 degrees Celsius. However, the biggest problem has been the rewarming, which often leaves the tissues greatly damaged and useless.

Most donated organs can only last about four hours on ice and on average, 22 people die every day while waiting for an organ. In the United States, around 76,000 people are actively waiting for an organ transplant, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.

But this scientific breakthrough of rewarming preserved organs is an important step forward. It is suggested that if this could make half of the unused organs successfully transplanted, transplant waiting lists may be eliminated within two to three years, as reported by The Guardian.

The process involved deploying of silica-coated iron oxide nanoparticles into a solution inside and around the samples to act as a protective and evenly distributed heat source. This will be activated by non-invasive electromagnetic waves to rapidly and uniformly warm the tissue.

The tests conducted after the rewarming process showed that no tissues were harmed, unlike the tissues rewarmed slowly by ice or by convection heating. The solution could also be rinsed off the tissues easily afterwards.

John Bischof, senior author of the study and a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Minnesota said, "We are not in any way declaring victory here, we have promising results but we have not yet done it." CNN reported.

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