Enhancing Heart Transplants with an Affordable "Any Size Fits All" Novel Ex-Vivo Perfusion System

Stanford scientists have developed a novel cardiac Ex-vivo Preservation System (EVPS) capable of maintaining hearts of any size warm and beating upon transport, expanding heart transplant options for pediatric populations.

EVPS (Ex-Vivo Perfusion Systems) have addressed a critical unmet need in the organ shortage problem for transplants. Compared to cold storage (keeping an organ on ice in a cooler) EVPS offers constant warm perfusion of solutions that can preserve the organ for longer, administer therapeutics, and monitor functionality in real time. However, current systems are limited for adult populations and a system that can support pediatric hearts has not been approved. Stanford researchers have built a novel EVPS that is both age and size agnostic and leverages pre-existing circuits to reduce cost and increase access. This device can lead to enhanced outcomes for patients on the transplant waitlist for both pediatric and adult populations.

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• Prototype