After being turned away from four medical centres in other parts of the country due to his health, Trino met with Dr. Gabriel Loor, surgical director of the lung transplant programme at Baylor St. Luke’s and director of lung transplantation in the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, and his transplant team where it was determined he would be a candidate for the EVLP transplant.
Shortly after, Trino and his family made the move from Miami to Houston where they would wait for the call for a viable pair of lungs.
The surgery was performed as part of the EXPAND II OCS trial, for which Baylor St. Luke’s is a study site, testing the outcomes of transplanted donor lungs that are transported, preserved, optimised, and monitored on a portable OCS device.
Led by Dr. Loor, the transplant was performed at Baylor St. Luke’s using the newest generation of EVLP platforms, Transmedics Organ Care System (OCS), a portable device that maintains the organ in its own physiologic state with warm blood perfusion, ventilation, and a sophisticated monitoring system to continually assess the organ in flight. In Trino’s case, the donated lungs were flown in to Houston from the Midwest and were kept “breathing” on the OCS Lung machine for a total of 11 hours. The device is the only portable EVLP system in the world and the only one that has undergone a positive U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel review in the U.S. as well as two rigorous international clinical trials. The OCS Lung System was officially approved by the FDA on March 23.
The technology has the ability to keep the lung active, healthy, and breathing, which had the same affect on the patient. A short 36 hours following the surgery, Trino was in his room recovering; 10 days later, he was out of the hospital. Trino is even enjoying being able to sing again – something he hasn’t done in years.
With nearly 100,000 people on the waiting list for life-saving organ donations in the U.S., the new technology paves the way for future groundbreaking transplants across the country. Thanks to this revolutionary OCS technology, donor organs are more protected, and transplants are no longer restricted by time or distance. This improves the standard method of organ transplantation and provides the opportunity to widen the potential organ donor pool and help save more lives.
Trino and his family are thankful for the life-saving procedure performed by Dr. Loor and his dedicated team at Baylor St. Luke’s. He can now breathe, and sing, easier knowing he has a second chance at life.
The lung transplant programme at Baylor St. Luke’s in Houston’s renowned Texas Medical Center continually strives to meet the needs of patients through innovative breakthrough research and leading-edge technology and is committed to compassionate quality healthcare that improves and saves lives.
MORE INFO
Contact International Services via email [email protected], call +1 832 355 3350 or visit StLukesInternational.org, Texas Medical Center, Houston, Texas, U.S.