RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Japanese Application No. 2019-118336, filed on Jun. 26, 2019, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a frame used in an organ holder for holding an organ, and to an organ holder that includes this frame.

BACKGROUND ART

In transplant operations such as liver transplantation, an organ is temporarily preserved during the period from when the organ is removed from a donor to when the organ is transplanted into a recipient. Various preservation and perfusion methods have been developed in order to preserve isolated organs in transplantable conditions. In order to preserve isolated organs, for example, a simple cooling method is known in which blood in an organ is replaced with a low-temperature organ preservation solution in order to suppress cell metabolism, and then the organ is immersed in a low-temperature preservation solution. There is also known a perfusion preservation method in which the vascular network of a preserved organ is perfused with a preservation solution for the purpose of eliminating waste materials in the organ.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-151303 describes a conventional device for preserving an organ outside the body. In the device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-151303, a hammock made of hydrophobic cloth is used to hold an organ.

However, the position of the organ relative to the hammock may be shifted in case the organ is simply placed in the hammock as in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-151303. It is thus difficult to transport the organ without damage from the donor to the recipient.

In particular, in the case of perfusion preservation, solution-sending tubes and drainage tubes, such as catheters, are connected to blood vessels of an organ in order to supply perfusate into the organ or to drain perfusate from the organ. Thus, if these tubes are shifted in position when the organ is held in the hammock, there is the problem that the organ is more likely to become damaged due to a strain on the organ.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a technique that is able to suppress a shift in the positions of tubes such as solution-supply tubes and drainage tubes connected to the organ, in the case of perfusion preservation of the organ.

The present invention provides a frame for holding a tube connected to an organ during perfusion preservation of the organ. The frame includes a ring-shaped body part locatable to surround a periphery of the organ, and at least one tube clamp part mounted on the body part. The tube clamp part includes a tube holder that holds the tube, and the tube clamp part is mounted so as to be movable in a circumferential direction of the body part.

According to the present invention, it is possible to fix the tube connected to the organ at an appropriate position to the tube clamp part. This stabilizes the relative positions of the organ and the tube. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce the probability of the organ becoming damaged due to a strain on the organ.

These and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

