New lung regeneration technique may lessen shortage of lungs for transplantation

To stay alive, many patients with advanced diseases must undergo organ transplantation, meaning receive an organ from an organ donor to replace their severely diseased organ. One of the challenges to this life-saving procedure is shortage of organs suitable for transplantation. This problem is significant for the lungs because about 80% of donated lungs are discarded as too damaged to be transplanted to another person. Researchers have now figured out a clever technique to regenerate lung tissue and make more donated lungs acceptable for transplantation. Maybe similar techniques can be used to reduce shortage of other organs such as the heart and liver. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen how well the repaired lungs function after transplantation and over the long haul.

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