ABSTRACT
Over eight million surgical procedures are performed each year in the United States for the treatment of lost tissue or organ function as a result of disease or injury (Holder et al. 1997). Organ transplantation has also become a routine and successful treatment method for the replacement of a failed organ. Organs routinely transplanted include the kidneys, heart, lungs, liver, intestines, and pancreas. Part of this success is due to better therapies to prevent rejection episodes, as well as improved techniques for the procurement and storage of whole organs prior to transplantation. Organ transplantation has saved and improved the quality of many lives; however, its widespread application is severely limited by a shortage of whole organ donors. In the United States, only a few thousand organ donors are available each year. Yet tens of thousands are on waiting lists for an organ transplant, and most of them will die waiting for an organ. Certainly, extracorporeal devices, such as the hemodialyzer, the bioarti˜cial liver (to be discussed in Chapter 10), the arti˜cial heart (Jarvik 1981; Rosenberg 1995; Spotnitz 1987), and left ventricular assist devices (Grif˜th et al. 2001) can be used until an organ is available. Thus, these devices serve as a bridge to a transplant. The continued development and improvement of these devices will help alleviate the pain and suffering while awaiting an organ transplant. However, these devices cannot be used inde˜nitely and by themselves are still not a perfect solution.
