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Picture this. A man is involved in a severe car crash in

Florida which has left him brain-dead with no hope for any

kind of recovery. The majority of his vital organs are

still functional and the man has designated that his organs

be donated to a needy person upon his untimely death.

Meanwhile, upon checking with the donor registry board, it

is discovered that the best match for receiving the heart of

the Florida man is a male in Oregon who is in desperate need

of a heart transplant. Without the transplant, the man will

most certainly die within 48 hours. The second man's

tissues match up perfectly with the brain-dead man's in

Florida. This seems like an excellent opportunity for a

heart transplant. However, a transplant is currently not a

viable option for the Oregon man since he is separated by

such a vast geographic distance from the organ. Scientists

and doctors are currently only able to keep a donor heart

viable for four hours before the tissues become irreversibly

damaged. Because of this preservation restriction, the

donor heart is ultimately given to someone whose tissues do

not match up as well, so there is a greatly increased chance

for rejection of the organ by the recipient. As far as the

man in Oregon goes, he will probably not receive a donor

heart before his own expires.



Currently, when a heart is being prepared for

transplantation, it is simply submerged in an isotonic

saline ice bath in an attempt to stop all metabolic activity

of that heart. This cold submersion technique is adequate

for only four hours. However, if the heart...