HealthLinksSC.com | 77 increasing number of people are opting to give back as DCD donors. MUSC is one of only 20 hospitals nationwide that works with DCD donors. Using DCD organs can avoid some of the negative effects of brain death on donor organ quality, Dr. Kilic explained. “Organ donation is always a miracle,” said Moore. “DCD donors, like all donors, including living donors, open up the chance to save many more lives.” To pull off McGill’s miracle, Dr. Kilic and his team partnered with TransMedics, a medical device company that created a machine that keeps organs functional and healthy during their journey from donor to recipient. “I knew they were making history,” said McGill’s mother, Lillie. “They showed me a picture of the heart beating in a little suitcase.” “The little suitcase” Lillie referenced aptly describes TransMedics’ ex vivo perfusion system. It looks like a clear, tube-infused suitcase that cradles the donor heart. The TransMedics’ ex vivo perfusion system is designed to mimic the human body, which likely contributes to better organ function right away, Dr. Kilic explained. In addition, by keeping the organ perfused and warm, the machine allows more time to gain access to organs. With the traditional method of keeping a heart cooled on ice, the maximum safe travel time is around four hours, which limits the distance a donated organ can travel for transplantation. But with the TransMedics system, donated hearts can come from much longer distances, and Dr. Kilic shared that some centers have successfully transplanted organs donated on one side of the country and transported to the other. In an ideal world, Moore said, “Organ, eye and tissue donation would be viewed as a fundamental human responsibility.” The Transmedics ex vivo perfusion system.
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