Cryogenic preservation: from single cells to whole organs – Science Weekly podcast

Hannah Devlin looks at recent advances in the field of cryopreservation and asks how close we are to applying these technologies to whole organs

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Last year, around 3,500 organs were transplanted into patients in the UK alone. That said, a large number of organs were also discarded because the moment a donor dies, doctors have only eight or so hours to find a patient on the organ register who is a match and can be almost immediately ready for surgery. One recent estimate suggested that as many as 60% of the hearts and lungs donated for transplantation are discarded each year. But a new technology could be about to change this: whole-organ cryopreservation.