VOA慢速英语--研究称新机器能使肝脏在体外存活整整一周_

Swiss researchers have developed a machine that, they say, can keep human livers alive outside of the body for one week.

Current technology and methods are only able to keep human livers alive for up to 24 hours.

The new machine is able to keep the liver active by performing several functions normally carried out by the human body.

Researchers say they expect the technology to greatly increase the number of livers available for transplant. This could save the lives of many patients suffering from severe liver disease who need to have their liver replaced.

Scientists from the University of Zurich in Switzerland developed the machine. They recently reported their results in the publication Nature Biotechnology.

The researchers say the purpose of their "Liver4Life" machine is to perform what they call liver perfusion operations outside of the human body. Perfusion is the process by which blood or other fluids are pumped through organs and tissue.

The machine keeps the liver at the right temperature and moves it in a way that would be natural in the body. It uses a pump to fill the liver with blood acting¹ like a replacement² for a human heart. The machine also provides oxygen to the organ, controls red blood cell levels and removes waste.

A healthy liver is necessary to support life. The liver receives about 25 percent of blood from the heart and carries out about 5,000 different tasks in the body.

Livers are among the most commonly transplanted human organs. Most transplants involve patients suffering from severe liver disease or cancer.

The Mayo Clinic in the state of Minnesota reported that, in 2017, about 8,000 liver transplants were performed in the U.S. among adults and children. Of those, 360 involved livers from living donors³. In addition, about 11,500 people were registered on a waiting list to receive a liver transplant, the organization said.

Keeping livers alive and functioning for longer periods could greatly improve the chances of survival for patients.

The research team began their experiments using livers from pigs. After repeated testing and engineering development, the team said it was able to get the pig livers to survive for seven days with support only provided from the Liver4Life machine.

The scientists said they also discovered that the system can work to repair damaged livers. In one test, the team connected the machine to 10 injured human livers that had been rejected for transplantation by all European medical centers.

After seven days of perfusion treatment from the machine, six of the human livers fully⁴ regained⁵ important liver functions, the researchers reported.

Pierre-Alain Clavien is chairman of the Department of Surgery and Transplantation at University Hospital Zurich. He helped lead the research.

"The success of this unique perfusion system - developed over a four-year period by a group of surgeons, biologists and engineers - paves the way for many new applications in transplantation and cancer medicine, helping⁶ patients with no liver grafts⁸ available," Clavien said in a statement.

He added that the successful treatment of poor-quality livers could lead to a wide range of new treatment possibilities. Such treatments could be used to repair preexisting liver damage, remove fat from the organ or even recreate partial livers.

The team is now planning its next step in the development process. It is making preparations to transplant machine-treated organs into patients.

Words in This Story

function – n. the purpose of something

transplant – n. an operation in which an organ or tissue is transplanted

unique – adj. different from everything else

pave the way - idiom to make it easier for something to happen

graft⁷ – n. piece of healthy skin or bone cut from a person's own body and used to repair a damaged part on that person

range – n. group of different things of the same general type

1 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

2 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

3 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 regained   

复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地

参考例句：

• The majority of the people in the world have regained their liberty. 世界上大多数人已重获自由。
• She hesitated briefly but quickly regained her poise. 她犹豫片刻，但很快恢复了镇静。

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 graft   

n.移植，嫁接，艰苦工作，贪污；v.移植，嫁接

参考例句：

• I am having a skin graft on my arm soon.我马上就要接受手臂的皮肤移植手术。
• The minister became rich through graft.这位部长透过贪污受贿致富。

8 grafts   

移植( graft的名词复数 )； 行贿； 接穗； 行贿得到的利益

参考例句：

• He's gone to London for skin grafts on his thighs. 他去伦敦做大腿植皮手术了。
• Her burns were treated with skin grafts. 她的烧伤是用植皮方法进行治疗的。