Succeeded in recovering human lungs damaged to the extent that they are removed from the organ transplant target by ``connecting to pig blood vessels''

The hurdles for organ donation have been lowered in various ways, but there is still a shortage of donors. Furthermore, even if there are donors, there are many cases where the lungs are damaged and cannot be used for transplantation. In response, research teams at Columbia University and Vanderbilt University have announced that they have succeeded in restoring severely damaged human lungs in a 'cross-circulation' with living pigs.

Please note that the following articles do not include photographs of direct organs.

Xenogeneic cross-circulation for extracorporeal recovery of injured human lungs | Nature Medicine

Biotechnology: Recovering Damaged Human Lungs by Cross Circulation with Pigs | Nature Medicine | Nature Research
https://www.natureasia.com/ja-jp/research/highlight/13380

' Extracorporeal pulmonary perfusion (EVLP) ' is known as an existing technique for maintaining the function of the lungs used for transplantation, by supplying oxygen and nutrients to the lungs of the donor to assist the function. The removed lung needs to be transplanted in 6 to 8 hours to resume blood flow, but using EVLP can extend the time from removal to the end of transplantation.

Columbia University and Vanderbilt University have been exploring radically new ways over the last eight years to secure more lungs for organ transplants. In 2019, the team confirmed that a damaged pig's lungs had been restored by a 'cross-circulation' that connected to another living pig outside the body.

This paper shows that human lungs can be restored rather than pig lungs. Although the lungs that were used after transplantation were not suitable for transplantation after EVLP, the lungs recovered their function by cross-circulation with pigs administered with immunosuppressant.

Below, with a mosaic, the color of the photo showing the course of cross-circulation can be used to understand the recovery of the lungs.

Before the cross-circulation, the lungs are less vivid and the reddish areas are slightly darkened.

12 hours after the start of the cross circulation, the redness has become stronger as a whole.

24 hours from the start of cross circulation. It seems that even the deflated parts are bulging.

You can see the recovery of the unmosaic lungs at the sites below.

Severely Damaged Human Lungs Can Now Be Successfully Recovered | Columbia Engineering
https://engineering.columbia.edu/press-releases/gvn-donor-lungs-recovery

Damaged Human Lungs Can Be Repaired by Attaching Them to Pigs, Experiment Shows
https://www.sciencealert.com/a-damaged-human-lung-has-been-repaired-by-attaching-it-to-a-pig