My name is Dan Martinelli and I have recently joined Lifebanc as the Director of Preservation Services.
The role of the Organ Preservation Specialist (OPS) has been described many ways. However, you may not have heard it described in the following manner: An OPS is the conductor of the orchestral process of organ donation - the surgical recovery of transplantable organs. An OPS has the critical responsibility of ensuring that the organ recovery process occurs in an organized manner, that the organs being recovered are perfused properly, that the anatomy of the recovered organs are described accurately, and that each organ is packaged and labeled according to industry standards. The OPS serves as a surgical first assistant to our recovering surgeons and in addition OPS will surgically recover organs for research when deemed not transplantable. An OPS also has the responsibility of machine preservation of kidneys. Some of the responsibilities included in machine preservation are, surgically cannulating and placing kidneys onto a kidney perfusion machine, pharmacological management, monitoring and adjusting pressures, monitoring renal flow and renal resistance values of the kidney. These key responsibility areas of the OPS ensure that these generous gifts are transplantable. An OPS serves as a critically important member of the team of individuals involved in the donation process.
Although that is a technical definition of our role – I like to think of it as simply preparing and preserving the precious Gift of Life for the journey to the recipient.
