How in the world did Scientists patch damaged lungs for transplanting?
WASHINGTON — Call it a genetic patch job for worn lungs: Canadian researchers took donated lungs deemed too damaged to transplant and repaired them with outside-the-body gene therapy. It will take lots more research to see if the fix lasts, to find out if the lungs work as well back inside a body as they do inside a see-through life-support dome in the laboratory. But the study published Wednesday has lung specialists hopeful they can boost the number of lungs available for people desperately in need. “We’ve been banging our heads against the wall with respect to lung transplant survival for quite some time,” said Dr. Michael Bousamra of the University of Louisville, who wasn’t involved in the new project. “It’s a long way from prime-time,” cautioned Bousamra, lung transplant chief at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Ky. But, he added, “This approach has the potential to change the way we do things.” Only about 15 percent of the lungs now provided from otherwise good organ donors are usa
