First UK double lung transplant carried out with machine to keep organs alive

Surgeons have performed a double lung transplant using a novel machine that revives donor organs and keeps them alive and breathing outside the human body for the first time in the UK.

- Andrew Gregory

The pioneering device consists of a bubble-like chamber. Inside, a series of pumps and filters are connected to repair, recondition and revitalise the lungs before they are transplanted into patients.

Perfusion of the lungs in the machine allows doctors to evaluate and if necessary rehabilitate the organs for transplant. It also buys them significantly more time than the traditional way of storing lungs on ice, which can cause tissue damage.

Experts say the arrival of the machine could dramatically increase the number of lungs available for transplantation on the NHS, potentially saving hundreds of lives each year.

Daniel Evans-Smith was the first patient to benefit from the XPS system, made by XVIVO, in the UK. Before the operation at Royal Papworth hospital in Cambridge, he had developed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a condition that causes breathing difficulties, limiting daily activities and sometimes requiring the use of oxygen.

After getting new lungs from a donor patient that were brought back to life using the XPS system, Evans-Smith woke up to find he no longer had COPD. "It's amazing," the 49-year-old said in an interview with the Guardian. "The difference is phenomenal."