Ex-Vivo Perfusion Transforms Lung Transplantation STORY HIGHLIGHTS Data suggest that keeping organs on ex-vivo perfusion improves the quality of the lungs and potentially will make it possible in the future to accept organs that might not otherwise be considered usable. UCLAHEALTH.ORG Recent advances to transport and maintain donor lungs and improve care of patients awaiting new organs are reshaping the field of lung transplantation. These strategies may increase the number of patients who receive transplants. UCLA has one of the largest lung-transplant programs in the country. The program also has the largest U.S. enrollment in a closely watched clinical trial on ex-vivo lung perfusion, a technique aimed at improving the quality of donor lungs for transplantation. Abbas Ardehali, MD, surgical director of the UCLA Heart, Lung and Heart-Lung Transplant Programs, is the chief U.S. investigator of the study, dubbed the INSPIRE trial. 1-844-4UCLADR (1-844-482-5237) “We have access to the newest technologies in organ preservation,” Dr. Ardehali says. “One of the benefits of this technology is to make lungs better for transplantation. Keeping them breathing and perfused is better than keeping the lungs on ice. A body of data suggests that keeping the organs on ex-vivo perfusion improves the quality of the lungs. We hope, through this study, that we can make lungs we don’t typically accept potentially usable in the future.” Called the Organ Care System (OCS), this novel protocol involves an experimental organ-preservation device that keeps lungs in a near-physiologic state outside the body during transport: perfused with oxygen and a special