Repaired organ and method for making the same

Abstract

A repaired ex vivo organ suitable for transplantation in a human, said repaired ex vivo organ having undergone ex vivo organ perfusion for a maintenance period, wherein said organ had been assessed as being unsuitable for transplantation into a human before the maintenance period and was determined to be suitable for transplantation after the maintenance period.

1 - 16 . (canceled) 
     
     
         17 . A method of improving an ex vivo organ, said method comprising the steps of:
 (i) determining the status of the organ by evaluating pre-selected criteria;   (ii) subjecting the organ to an acellular perfusate at normothermic temperatures for a maintenance period; and   (iii) determining improvement of the organ by re-evaluating the pre-selected criteria.   
     
     
         18 . The method according to  claim 17 , wherein the organ is a lung, liver, heart, kidney, or pancreas. 
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 17 , wherein the ex vivo organ is a lung and the pre-selected criteria include the ratio of partial pressure of arterial oxygen to the fraction of inspired oxygen. 
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 19 , where the pre-selected criteria shows an improvement of at least 10%, at least 20%, or at least 40% between steps (i) and (iii). 
     
     
         21 . A method of repairing a donor organ so that the donor organ is suitable for transplantation into a human, said method comprising the steps of
 (i) determining the status of the organ by evaluating pre-selected criteria;   (ii) subjecting the organ to an acellular perfusate at normothermic temperatures for a maintenance period; and   (iii) determining repair of the perfused organ by re-evaluating the pre-selected criteria.   
     
     
         22 . The method according to  claim 21 , wherein the maintenance period is within the range of 1 to 10 hours, 1 to 7 hours, or 1 to 3 hours. 
     
     
         23 . The method according to  claim 21 , the steps (i) and (ii) are performed concurrently. 
     
     
         24 . The method according to  claim 21 , further comprising a step of treating the organ with a suitable medical treatment for a treatment period after step (ii). 
     
     
         25 . The method according to  claim 24 , wherein the suitable medical treatment is one or more of antibiotics, hyperperfusion techniques, beta-agonists, anti-inflammatory agents, flow techniques, gene therapy, stem cell treatments, and anti-coagulants. 
     
     
         26 . The method according to  claim 24 , wherein the treatment period is within the range of 1 to 10 hours, 1 to 7 hours, or 1 to 3 hours. 
     
     
         27 . The method according to  claim 21 , wherein the organ is a lung, liver, heart, kidney, or pancreas. 
     
     
         28 . The method according to  claim 27 , wherein the organ is a lung. 
     
     
         29 . The method according to  claim 28 , wherein the lung is a donation after cardiocirculatory death (DCD) lung. 
     
     
         30 . The method according to  claim 28 , wherein the acellular perfusate replaces substantially all blood in the lung. 
     
     
         31 . A method of conditioning an ex vivo donation after cardiocirculatory death (DCD) lung for transplantation into a human, the method comprising subjecting the DCD lung to ex vivo perfusion with an acellular perfusate at normothermic temperatures for a maintenance period, thereby conditioning the DCD lung such that it is suitable for transplantation into a human. 
     
     
         32 . The method according to  claim 31 , further comprising determining suitability for transplantation into a human of the perfused lung by evaluating pre-selected criteria. 
     
     
         33 . The method according to  claim 32 , wherein the pre-selected criteria include an atrial pressure in the left atrium in a range of 3 mmHg to 5 mmHg 
     
     
         34 . The method according to  claim 31 , further comprising treating the organ with a suitable medical treatment for a treatment period. 
     
     
         35 . The method according to  claim 34 , wherein the suitable medical treatment is one or more of antibiotics, hyperperfusion techniques, beta-agonists, anti-inflammatory agents, flow techniques, gene therapy, stem cell treatments, and anti-coagulants. 
     
     
         36 . The method according to  claim 31 , wherein the DCD lung is a Maastricht category III or IV lung.