Organ Care System®

The aim of this project is to establish an innovative ex vivo therapy for advanced oncologic or infectious pulmonary diseases in the Organ Care System® (OCS). During this ex vivo therapy, the patient should be connected to an extracorporeal membrane oxygenator (ECMO) for temporary cardiac and respiratory stabilization, removing it after subsequent autotransplantation of the treated lungs.

The idea of the ex vivo therapy is based on the fact that the dosage of the in vivo therapy, due to the correlation between dose and efficacy in oncologic or antibiotic treatment in many situations is limited by collateral damage (e.g. surrounding tissue, extrapulmonary organ toxicity), which is unwelcome, but unavoidable during day-to-day clinical routine. OCS, which has already been used successfully in lung transplantations, and which offers the possibility of warm blood perfusion and ventilation, is a system with which the ex vivo therapy can be achieved. This project will analyse whether the explantation of the lungs, with subsequent ex vivo therapy in the OCS followed by autotransplantation, represents a more effective therapy and can be carried out with a justifiable risk. In order to answer this question adequately, the project was divided into subprojects to include both a small animal and large animal model, as well as the experimental use of human lung sections removed during tumor surgery.