Frost Fight: New Tech to Slash Organ Transplant Waiting Lists

Imagine a strawberry, red and ripe, tucked into the freezer, or a head of lettuce accidentally frozen in the fridge. Then picture it days later, defrosted. It’s a mushy, unappealing mess. Now you roughly understand the challenge that organ transplant teams face every day keeping tissues fresh. Organs, like produce, don’t freeze well. The slightest bit of crystallization can burst cells, rip veins, and render a precious, carefully salvaged heart, lung, or kidney unusable. Yet keeping organs cool is critical to maximizing their usable lifespan, keeping them viable for lifesaving organ transplant surgeries which often take place in another hospital if not another state. The United Network for Organ Sharing is in charge of matching organs with potential recipients in the United States. Despite reports that 2022 was a record-setting year for liver, heart, and lung transplants, there are still far more people in need of a transplant than organs available. About 104,000 people are on a waiting list for transplants in the United States right now, with just under 60,000 of those people immediately eligible to receive an organ based on the severity of their illness. Some 42,000 transplants were completed last year. But roughly 6,000 of those eligible for transplant, or 17 people each day, will die this year while waiting for their new life-saving organ, according to <a href="https://www.organdonor.gov/learn/organ-donation-statistics" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">government data</a>. <a href="https://medium.proto.life/frost-fight-new-tech-to-slash-organ-transplant-waiting-lists-421ea960a662">Click Here</a>