PORTLAND, Ore. — New technology called Liver in a Box is making a life-saving difference for people waiting for an organ transplant.
"I would not have gotten that liver if it wasn’t for that technology," Jennifer Rosoff said.
Rosoff is getting back to the life she loves after a liver transplant in May changed her outlook.
More than 20 years ago, she had cancer and a carcinoid tumor was removed, but a few years ago she found out it was back and it had spread.
"It was small, so they thought they got it all, but 20 years after that I had a [CT] scan for some other issue and they found spots on my liver," she said.
Then, in the process of treating it, her liver was badly damaged and she was put on the transplant list.
Finding Jennifer a liver came with a very specific challenge because of very specific measurements. Although she’s tall, she has a small abdominal cavity, which means she also needs a small liver.
"I guess I didn't realize that, because I’m like 5-foot-8," she said. "So I needed a smaller liver and it was taking a lot longer."
Thanks to the new perfusion pump machine, nicknamed Liver in a Box, she got her chance. The donor liver she eventually received traveled multiple hours and would not have been an option without the perfusion pump.
"It kept that liver going until they could bring it here," she said.
OHSU is the only hospital in Oregon, and just one of two in the Pacific Northwest, that use this new medical device. It essentially gives teams more time to get a donor liver to a recipient, which is crucial.
Before, it involved draining the liver of blood, chilling it on ice, and rushing to transplant it within a narrow six-hour window. The perfusion machine flows blood through the organ at normal body temperatures for up to 24 hours before being transplanted.
Rosoff's donated liver relied on the pump for about 12 hours.
While a record 9,528 liver transplants were performed in the United States last year, the Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network reports that 1,041 Americans died while waiting for a new liver in 2022.
Rosoff had been on the wait list for about two years.
"You're just in complete limbo," she said. "You can't go anywhere without cell service. I like to camp, and you can't go camping. So that's one of the first things I'm going to do is a camping trip."
OHSU said more livers that would otherwise be too logistically or technically challenging to transplant can be used with the Liver in a Box technology.
Now, Rosoff is taking steps toward that recovery each day. She's thankful to her donor and the new technology that saved her life.
"The liver was a beautiful liver and I’m so thankful to the family, beyond words," Rosoff said.
Sign up to be an organ donor and help save a life like Roscoff's. Get more information and find local resources at Donate Life Northwest.
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