Three hyperbaric portable renal storage units used to transport organs for transplantation at low temperatures. The 3 units are not all complete but should make up one whole with spares.
Organs for transplant surgery were stored and transported at low temperatures inside this hyperbaric unit – ‘hyperbaric’ means that the unit can store organs at a pressure higher than normal atmospheric pressure. Kidneys were transported in this example.
It would be a race against time to get kidneys from a donor to a recipient as these organs can only be used up to 48 hours after donation, although some studies have suggested that hyperbaric oxygen storage can lengthen the time organs remain viable. The unit was made by Vickers Limited Medical Engineering.
Details
- Category:
- Surgery
- Object Number:
- 2000-285
- Materials:
- stainless steel, plastic
- Measurements:
-
overall: 380 mm x 610 mm x 413 mm, 28.9 kg
- credit:
- Watson-Hopkinson, W.I., Dr.