ORS system used in its first liver transplants

ITASCA - Organ Recovery Systems announced the first liver transplants using its new transporter device. The surgeries were done at Rutgers Medical School in New Jersey and Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, the company said.

This milestone took place as part of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-authorized study to confirm the findings of an efficacy trial conducted over the last two years under a FDA investigational device exemption.

ORS' LifePort Liver Transporter with Vasosol uses oxygenated hypothermic machine perfusion (HMP) to limit organ damage during preservation, resulting in improved patient outcomes and increased utilization of lifesaving organs, ORS said.

Currently, around 11,000 Americans are waiting to receive a liver transplant. The traditional preservation method for donor organs is static cold storage, which limits the time and distance an organ can travel to the recipient transplant center.

"From the promising clinical evidence we've seen thus far, use of (the new transporter) makes the process easier on everyone involved, which gives patients on the waiting list a better chance of receiving a second chance at life," said David Kravitz, CEO of ORS.