Apparatus for tissue transport and preservation

Inventors

COLLETTE, Adam • Jessel, Melanie • Anderson, Lisa Maria

Assignees

Paragonix Technologies Inc

Abstract

Systems and methods of the invention generally relate to prolonging viability of bodily tissue, especially an organ such as a lung, by adjusting pressure as needed to maintain a constant pressure within the organ even during external pressure fluctuations due, for example, to transportation of the organ in an airplane. Gas passing into and out of the organ may be conditioned to prolong tissue viability.

Core Innovation

The disclosure describes an extracorporeal organ storage system for a lung using a transport container and nested containers configured to contain the lung. A lung adapter in fluid communication with a pump and a pressure relief valve extends from an exterior of the nested containers to an interior of the nested containers, and forms a closed air system with the airway of the lung. The nested containers are configured to only allow gas to pass from the exterior to the interior through the lung adapter.

The system further arranges eutectic cooling blocks within the transport container and outside the nested containers, with the eutectic cooling blocks configured to maintain a temperature of the lung. The disclosure includes transport container concepts that maintain a nearly constant closed-air gauge pressure in the lung despite altitude and ambient pressure changes, using pressure modulation elements and valves to regulate or relieve pressure while preserving a closed air system.

The disclosure also describes additional lung storage features used with the system, including gas conditioning using oxygen or ambient air selection and cooling and humidification, and optional pleural-pressure emulation via external compression. The disclosure further describes gas and organ handling arrangements such as contoured or upright organ positioning to match anatomy and compatibility with hypothermic machine perfusion apparatuses.

Claims Coverage

The document provides two independent claims, a system claim and a method claim. Across these claims, the core inventive coverage centers on forming a closed air system between a pump and valving arrangement and a lung airway through a lung adapter extending into nested containers, while constraining gas passage to occur only through the lung adapter and maintaining lung temperature using eutectic cooling blocks arranged within the organ container.

Overall, the independent claim coverage focuses on a pump and pressure-relief arrangement coupled through a lung adapter that forms a closed air system with the lung airway, nested containers configured to constrain gas flow to only pass through the lung adapter, and eutectic cooling blocks arranged outside the nested containers to maintain lung temperature.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications