A 64-year-old man from Quebec has made history in North America by being the first recipient of a regenerated liver, thanks to a groundbreaking technology that has the potential to increase the availability of livers for transplants by a significant number in its initial year.
Gérard Landry, a resident of Nouvelle on the south shore of Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula, struggled with liver issues for approximately 15 years, which eventually led to cirrhosis and liver cancer.
Prior to his liver transplant surgery, Landry received surprising news from his doctor that the organ he was about to receive had been regenerated using a novel machine, utilized for the first time at Montreal’s Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM).
Speaking about the new machine developed by his doctor over several years, Landry expressed his delight, likening it to a gift received at Christmas.
The innovative technology, known as Liver Assist, enables medical professionals to treat and evaluate a donated liver outside the body before transplantation. For Landry, this meant receiving a liver that may have been deemed too risky for transplant otherwise.
Gérard Landry had been suffering from liver disease and cancer for 15 years. But now, he’s cancer-free thanks to a liver regenerated by a new machine – technology that could lead to more life-saving transplants.
Giving a donated liver a chance to recover
Dr. David Hénault, a hepatopancreatobiliary surgeon and liver transplant specialist at CHUM, spearheaded the initiative and conducted Landry’s surgery.
Hénault mentioned that the team had been preparing to implement the technology for about three years.
The Liver Assist system functions by connecting a donated liver to a machine circulating an oxygen-rich fluid through the organ, which can potentially reverse some of the damage caused by oxygen deprivation while the liver is outside the body.
Subsequently, the technology allows for a switch to a blood-based solution to assess liver functionality under conditions simulating the human body.
“If it works on the machine, then it’s going to work in the human,” stated Hénault.
Hénault noted that the liver Landry received was well-suited to the technology, as it was vulnerable to oxygen-related damage during the organ transfer process.
