The OrganOx metra device was designed to extend the time that donated livers may remain viable for transplant. It has potential to positively affect lives of thousands of people in need of liver transplants across the country. (Courtesy photo)

Johnny Holiday had no idea when he woke up after having major surgery recently that he had just made history.

The Broken Arrow man was just glad the surgery was over and happy to be alive.

Now, having learned that he was the first liver transplant recipient in the country to benefit from a new piece of medical equipment designed to extend the time that donated livers may remain viable for transplant, Holiday said hes even more grateful.

We had no idea until after the surgery, when Dr. (Vivek) Kohli told my wife that I was making medical history, Holiday said.

We were blown away, added the 51-year-old transplant recipients wife, Melanie. We were so very grateful and excited to be a part of this game-changing technology.

The history-making surgery was performed at Integris Health in Oklahoma City. According to a news release, the hospital was the first place in the nation outside of a clinical trial environment where a liver transplant was performed using the OrganOx metra device.

The device, owned and operated by LifeShare of Oklahoma, the states organ procurement organization, was designed to keep a donated liver in a functioning state from the time its taken from a donor to the time of transplant, by using oxygenated blood at normal body temperature.

Traditionally, you have up to 12 hours to retrieve the liver from the donor, take it to its destination and transplant it into the recipient, said Kohli, director of abdominal transplants and hepatobiliary surgery at the Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute at Integris Baptist Medical Center. With this new technology, the liver is preserved with warm oxygenated blood. This improves the organ preservation and extends preservation time beyond the usual 12 hours.

Holidays successful surgery occurred on May 27.

According to Jeffrey Orlowski, president and chief executive officer at LifeShare, the OrganOx metra device has potential to affect thousands of lives of people in need of liver transplants.

Theres new hope on the horizon for the more than 11,000 Americans waiting for a liver transplant, he said. This new technology allows us to increase the number of donor organs available for transplant, meaning surgeons like Dr. Kohli and his team can save more lives.

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Oklahoman first to benefit from advance in liver transplant technology - Journal Record