Transplant device may cut chemotherapy side effects

Doctor says invention for liver surgery could be used to cure cancer patients

A top doctor in the field of liver transplantation has suggested a new device meant to increase the success rate of such procedures could also be used to reduce the side effects of chemotherapy for cancer patients.

He Xiaoshun, vice-president of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, along with his team, invented a device that can keep organs viable outside the human body with uninterrupted blood flow. The device, which can be used to store organs for up to a week, has been used in the liver transplants of 14 patients since July. The organ recipients, who ranged in age from 27 to 69 and included a Hong Kong resident, have all been discharged from the hospital in Guangzhou.