For people living with advanced liver disease, a liver transplant is often their last hope. Every day, patients wait for the life-changing phone call announcing that a compatible donor liver has become available. Unfortunately, because the number of transplantable organs remains limited, far too many patients wait longer than they should.
Today, thanks to the generosity of the CHUM Foundation’s community of donors—and to an exceptional gift from businessman and philanthropist Yves Des Groseillers—a major breakthrough is offering new possibilities.
The CHUM has become the first hospital in North America to integrate XVIVO’s Liver Assist™ technology into routine clinical practice. This innovative organ preservation system has the potential to increase the number of liver transplants by enabling more donor livers to be safely used.
This North American first demonstrates what becomes possible when the expertise of CHUM’s clinical teams is combined with the generosity of a community committed to advancing healthcare innovation and improving patient outcomes.
A technology that gives donor livers a second chance
This initiative, led by Dr. David Hénault, hepatopancreatobiliary surgeon and liver transplant specialist at CHUM, and the hospital’s liver transplantation team, marks an important milestone in the evolution of liver transplant care.
Until now, donor livers were preserved on ice between organ recovery and transplantation. With Liver Assist™, the organ can instead be maintained outside the body while an oxygenated preservation solution circulates through the liver, under conditions that closely replicate normal human physiology.
This allows transplant teams to monitor liver function, evaluate organ quality and, in certain cases, enable the liver to recover before transplantation.
In practical terms, some donor livers that would previously have been considered unsuitable may now be successfully reconditioned and confirmed safe for transplantation. Every organ recovered in this way represents another opportunity to save a patient’s life.
“This acquisition is the culmination of several years of work to equip the CHUM with technology capable of transforming the way we preserve, recondition and use donor livers for transplantation. Our goal is not to accept lower-quality organs, but to give selected donor livers the opportunity to recover before transplantation. Ultimately, our objective is simple: to provide more patients with liver transplants while maintaining the highest standards of safety and quality.”
— Dr David Hénault, Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgeon and Liver Transplant Specialist, CHUM
Creating more opportunities for patients
In Quebec, as throughout Canada, the demand for liver transplantation continues to exceed the number of donor organs available. While patients wait for a compatible liver, their health can continue to deteriorate.
Liver Assist™ enables certain donor livers that would previously have been discarded to be safely reconditioned and assessed for transplantation; thus potentially increasing the number of successful liver transplants performed.
This technology also provides greater flexibility for the CHUM’s transplant teams. By extending—under specific clinical protocols—the amount of time an organ can be safely preserved, clinicians have more time to prepare for surgery, coordinate multidisciplinary teams and identify the most appropriate recipient.
For patients waiting for a liver transplant and for their loved ones, this is far more than a technological breakthrough. It also gives them renewed hope.
How philanthropy accelerates medical innovation
Medical advancements do not rely solely on the expertise of clinical teams. They also require the resources to develop promising ideas and to more quickly integrate cutting-edge technologies that can benefit patients.
That is exactly what philanthropy makes possible.
Thanks to the generosity of Foundation donors, the CHUM’s clinical teams now have access to a groundbreaking technology that will help them save more lives.
This North American first further strengthens the CHUM’s leadership in liver transplantation, organ preservation and surgical innovation. It also demonstrates the remarkable impact that can be achieved when visionary clinicians, committed philanthropists and the CHUM Foundation work together to bring life-changing technologies to patients sooner.
Every gift—large or small—helps transform promising ideas into medical innovations. Together, we are giving CHUM’s healthcare teams the tools they need to push the boundaries of medicine and offer more patients the gift of a second chance at life.