Technology Review has an article about out-of-body lung repair:
In an operating room at the hospital, the technology can keep a pair of human lungs slowly breathing inside a glass dome attached to a ventilator, pump, and filters. The lungs are maintained at normal body temperature of 37 °C and perfused with a bloodless solution that contains nutrients, proteins, and oxygen. The organs are kept alive in the machine, developed with Vitrolife, for up to 12 hours while surgeons assess function and repair them.
Normally, as few as one in ten lungs available for transplant is usable, and even those may not work properly when grafted. “The system allows you to assess the lungs, to diagnose what’s wrong with them, and then repair them,” says Shaf Keshavjee, who directs the hospital’s Lung Transplant Program. “Therefore, we’re transplanting lungs that have a more predictable outcome.”
