“Lungs in a box” were recently used at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in a groundbreaking lung transplantation led by STS members Drs. Gabriel Loor and Todd Rosengart. The technology–TransMedics Organ Care System Lung (OCS Lung)–allows donor lungs to “breathe” from the time of the donor procedure until the transplant surgery.

Close to 100,000 people are waiting for life-saving organ donations in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. OCS Lung technology and similar technologies mean that transplants will no longer be limited by time and location, Dr. Loor explained, thus expanding the available donor pool and providing more opportunities for patients waiting for organ donations.

“This is revolutionizing the way we do transplants,” Dr. Loor said. “The Texas Medical Center is one of a handful of centers doing this. With this technology, we can’t imagine going back to the standard method of organ transport.”

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