ORGAN PRESERVATION

Organ preservation for about 24 to 30 hours is required for use of most cadaveric organs. This level of preservation has been achieved for the pancreas, liver, and kidney, and very few organs are ever wasted because safe preservation times have been exceeded. Preservation is done by simple refrigerated storage of the organs after vascular flushout with the preservation solution. Heart and lung preservation currently is limited to about 4 to 8 hours. Although the preservation solution may be effective for these organs for about 12 hours, an ideal method to preserve these organs has not yet been achieved. The authors' clinical experience in organ preservation for clinical transplantation is presented.