eli5: how come when your organs are in your body, they need to be 98 degrees, but in an organ transplant the organ is cooled?

Question

eli5: how come when your organs are in your body, they need to be 98 degrees, but in an organ transplant the organ is cooled?

In: 274

Answer 1

When I’m your body, your body is doing things to keep them alive and functioning. Outside your body, they don’t have that support and decay. Cold slows that decay so the body it’s transplanted into can still use it.