Computer science degree apprenticeship drives diversity

A ground-breaking study is underway at the University of Birmingham and Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham to establish if livers that have been rejected for transplantation can be made viable by using a liver perfusion machine. Scientists are hopeful that machine perfusion could be a major breakthrough that would save more lives and reduce liver transplant waiting lists by increasing the number of available viable organs for transplantation. The study is using a normothermic liver perfusion machine on rejected donor livers to then maintain them at body temperature and supply the organs with oxygenated blood, medications and nutrients — much like a patient on life support. If deemed viable, the livers will then be transplanted into patients who have been recruited to the Viability Testing and Transplantation of Marginal Livers (VITTAL) study, which is being conducted by experts from the University of Birmingham's Centre for Liver and Gastrointestinal Research in the Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust's Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, and NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre. Over 20 patients are taking part in the trial, the result of which are expected to be published by early 2019. Livers can be kept in on the machine for 24 hours, and the process could enable the treatment and repair of organs as needed. Dr Simon Afford, of the University of Birmingham's Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy , said: "This is the first of its kind clinical trial designed to objectively assess the function of declined livers using machine perfusion, followed by the transplantation of these viable grafts.