if certain organs can regrow [like livers] why can’t we just keep some on ice until they’re needed?
In: Biology
Livers have a high oxygen requirement and while putting a donor organ “on ice” temporarily reduces the amount of oxygen the organ needs and reduces the degree of injury it takes, they don’t live long and the longer “on ice” the worse the state the organ will be.
After a cardiac arrest it is not uncommon to see a rise in the blood markers that indicate the liver has been damaged, and that would have been a much much shorter length of time with reduced oxygen supply.
Even using special chemicals and machines they don’t last forever, as the cells will need more than just oxygen to survive in the longer term so with our current level of technology it really isn’t feasible to keep them locked away in a time of need.
Furthermore our number of people needing transplants greatly outweighs the number of organs so there isn’t a need to store them as there’s always a growing waiting list of people desperate for a transplant.
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