THE POSSIBILITY OF A HEALTHY ORGAN

With major improvements in technique and rates of surgical success, organ transplantation is often the best alternative for treatment of end stage organ failure. With this success, however, there has become a severe shortage of healthy organs. In response to this shortage, treatments have been developed to help extend patients' survival while they are waiting for an organ. Progress has also been made in increasing donation rates. Public awareness programs and other public initiatives have resulted in some success in the U.S., Europe and Japan. Since 2003, there has been a 10 percent increase in the number of organ donors in the United States. The gap, however, between the number of available donor organs and the number of recipients on the waitlist continues to grow.

The Organ Care System is designed to maintain an organ in a warm, functioning state outside of the body, pumping oxygenated, nutrient-rich blood through the organ, while it is transported from donor to recipient.

The first use of the Organ Care System is for heart transplant. By maintaining hearts in a functioning state, the Organ Care System provides surgeons the opportunity to assess and potentially improve the organ's function prior to transplant. The Organ Care System may also lengthen the time that an organ can be maintained outside the body in a condition suitable for transplant, allowing it to reach more recipients.

These benefits could potentially lead to better outcomes for patients in terms of quality of life and overall survival. In addition, recovery time, hospital stays and other medical therapy currently needed after transplant could potentially be reduced.

The Organ Care System has undergone years of extensive testing, in consultation with some of the world's leading transplant surgeons.