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The EVOSS mimics the human breathing mechanism to prevent damage and allow donor lungs that otherwise would not have been deemed viable to be kept alive, transported and repaired.

Currently, only about 25 per cent of donor lungs are viable for transplant, and one in three people on the list to receive a lung transplant die waiting, Nagendran said.

“We used 12 sets of organs that otherwise would not have been used for transplantation because by all the parameters we have their quality was poor,” he said in a previous interview with Postmedia. “We were able to successfully convert all 12 of them into very usable organs.”

For instance, Livingston received a set of lungs from a donor who had been on 100 per cent oxygen before they passed away, he said.

Livingston hopes the trial draws attention to the “chronic” organ shortage in Alberta and that more people will be encouraged to become donors.

On Thursday, UCP MLA Matt Jones introduced a private member’s bill to make organ donor registration automatic, allowing Albertans to opt-out rather than having to opt-in.

“Leave (your organs) to somebody to have another day alive, or a year of life,” said Livingston.

A successful clinical trial is not the end of the road for the EVOSS, which has been supported with over $1 million through the U of A Alberta Transplant Institute, Alberta Health Services and the University Hospital Foundation, among other government and funding partners.

Nagendran and Freed have established a medical device company, Tevosol Inc., with the aim of developing a more compact version of the device that can be made accessible to doctors around the world.

“This is the best way of honouring the heroic efforts of patients and the families (of donors),” said Nagendran.

mwyton@postmedia.com

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