AI could cut organ waste by improving transplant matches

About one-third of organs already removed for transplantation are discarded rather than transplanted, and artificial intelligence could help reduce that share, ORF reported Wednesday, citing specialists in Innsbruck.

Until now, decisions on whether an organ was suitable for a recipient have relied largely on a small number of data points and laboratory results, said Gerald Brandacher, co-director of the University Clinic for Visceral, Transplantation and Thoracic Surgery at the Medical University of Innsbruck and tirol kliniken. AI could help identify patterns in the thousands or even hundreds of thousands of available data points, including genetic markers and metabolic data, he said.

AI could also support a cloud-based system where transplant centres could access all the data collected about an organ. That could help match each organ with the most suitable patient and ensure that some organs currently discarded are transplanted instead, Brandacher said.

Stefan Schneeberger, director of the same university clinic, said assessments could be made more precisely by preserving organs for longer. This can sometimes allow minor damage to be repaired, potentially making organs such as kidneys and livers suitable for transplantation rather than disposal.

The comments came ahead of the annual meeting of Austrotransplant, the Austrian Society for Transplantation, Transfusion and Genetics. The meeting runs from Wednesday to October 16 in Innsbruck and will discuss organ preservation and the use of AI in transplant surgery.