Limitations of Organ Transportation

There’s a tendency to believe that medical science can do anything.  Every day there seems to be news of a new surgery or piece of medical equipment that is achieving what was once considered impossible.  However, there are still some challenges that have not been overcome, and the area of medical shipping is no exception.  Despite impressive progress in the technology available for shipping critical organs across the country and around the world, there are still significant limitations based on the biological and chemical limitations of what is being transported.

Time Constraints

Refrigeration and transport improvements have allowed for the time limitations of transporting organs and other medical supplies; however, there are still often time constraints that must be accounted for when shipping any kind of sensitive medical equipment or material.  If too much time passes during transport, organs, medical samples, and medicines may become damaged or unusable.  As a result, geography often becomes a limiting factor.  The ability to transport equipment in time often depends on the distance between the point of origin and destination.

Damage Potential

Even within the time constraints, there can still be damage to organs and other biomaterial.  A certain amount of damage to organs is anticipated and unavoidable; however, even that much damage may make the organ unusable under certain circumstances.

Inability to Test the Organ

By nature of the transport process, the organ cannot be test for functionality during transport.  The organ or sample may have a disease that wasn’t detected during surgery.  There are technologies in development that would allow the organ to remain “alive” in a sense during transport, but these are not widely available.

Because of the number of sensitive factors involved in the transport process, it’s important to choose a company like ShipCritical with the experience and professionalism necessary to balance all of these variables.