Doctors in Toronto have developed a new technique to repair a damaged set of lungs that would normally be unsuitable for donation. Doctors believe that this method will help in saving lives of many people who die waiting for lung transplant.

A team of lung transplant surgeons from Toronto General Hospital have developed the technique, known as the Toronto XVIVO Lung Perfusion System. This is an ex vivo - or outside the body - technique that can continuously perfuse, or pump, a solution of oxygen, proteins and nutrients into injured donor lungs. This technique enables doctors to assess and treat damaged donor lungs while they are outside the body and make them suitable to be transplanted into a patient.

Research team led by Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, developed the technique to keep the donor lungs at a normal body temperature of 37 C. The new system was used on the donor lungs for 56-year-old patient Andy Dykstra, who received his new lungs on Dec. 5.

Dykstra is doing well after the surgery. He was part of ongoing clinical trial that is assessing the efficacy of the new system.

Only about 15 per cent to 20 per cent of donor lungs are acceptable for transplantation. Researchers are testing ability of the new technique in identifying donor lungs that do not meet standard transplant criteria, repairing them, and then transplanting them into patients. This technique was also used to for other three patients to improve those lungs that met transplant criteria.