Zurich Breakthrough: Keeping a Liver Alive for Three Days Outside the Body

This is the kind of story that gives me real hope. In a breakthrough published in Nature Biotechnology in 2022, researchers at the University Hospital Zurich preserved a human liver outside the body for three full days using a machine perfusion device — then successfully transplanted it into a patient with liver cancer. The patient recovered fully, and the liver functioned normally. Three days. Think about how many organs we lose right now because the clock runs out.

The Technology

The Zurich team used a normothermic machine perfusion device that mimics the human body's conditions. The machine pumps blood, nutrients, and oxygen through the liver at body temperature, essentially keeping the organ "alive" and functioning outside the body. Previous cold storage methods could only preserve livers for 12-18 hours; this technology extended that to 72 hours — a sixfold improvement.

"We were able to keep the liver alive and functioning for three days. The organ was not just preserved — it was actually healing and improving during that time." — Professor Pierre-Alain Clavien, University Hospital Zurich

Why Three Days Matters

Extending liver preservation from hours to days would transform transplant logistics. Currently, the narrow time window means organs must be matched, transported, and transplanted under enormous time pressure. Mistakes happen, organs are wasted, and geographic constraints limit who can receive which organs. A three-day window would allow:

Better matching: More time to find the optimal recipient for each organ, improving outcomes.

Global transport: Organs could potentially be shipped internationally, connecting donors and recipients across continents.

Quality assessment: Surgeons could evaluate organ quality more thoroughly before transplantation, reducing the risk of transplanting suboptimal organs.

Organ repair: Damaged organs could potentially be treated and improved during perfusion, making previously unusable organs viable.

"This changes the paradigm from a race against the clock to a planned, optimized process." — Nature Biotechnology editorial

The Future

The Zurich team is now working on extending perfusion times even further and applying the technology to other organs. Clinical trials are underway. For me and everyone at YCOD, this research represents the scientific complement to our policy fight. Better preservation technology means more lives saved from every donor organ. But here's what I keep coming back to: we need more donor organs in the first place. That's why changing the default saves lives — opt-out legislation like Bill A07954 increases the supply, and technology like this makes every single organ go further. We need both. I couldn't stay on the sidelines pushing for just one.