Human organs can now be stored for three times as long, scientists have shown, in a major breakthrough offering hope for thousands of people awaiting transplants in Britain.

Currently livers for transplant can only be kept outside of the body for nine hours before irreparable damage is done, and the organ must be discarded.

Previous efforts to freeze organs and keep them healthier for longer have failed because deep frostbite sets in, harming the tissue.

Now scientists at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have developed a method to preserve livers for 27 hours, using a super-cooling method which ‘freezes’ the organ at -4C but does not allow damaging ice crystals to form.

The new technique, which was hailed as ‘awesome’ could allow the world-wide allocation of hearts, livers, corneas, skin and kidneys from as far away as Australia, potentially saving thousands of lives a year.

The inability to preserve organs for more than a few hours is one of the fundamental causes of the donor organ shortage crisis.

There are currently around 6,000 people on the UK Transplant Waiting List and more than 400 people died last year while waiting for a transplant.

Dr Shannon Tessier of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School, said: “A lot of times when an organ becomes available, there may not be a good match nearby, so in terms of allocation, when you add that extra amount of time that means you can search a wider distance which means you have a better chance of not only finding a good match, but an excellent match.