( CNN ) -- In every medical drama the scene is the same : The surgeon carefully places the delicate organ in a cooler filled with ice and snaps the lid shut . The transplant team then sprints toward the door , hoping to reach its patient in time . That speed is n't just for dramatic effect . Transplant teams rush because they have less than eight hours to transport the organ to the operating room , prepare it for surgery and implant it into the recipient 's body . `` Beyond that time , there is significant injury to the ( organ ) , which makes it unusable , '' said Dr. Abbas Ardehali , director of UCLA 's heart and lung transplant program . Placing healthy organs in the same container we use to keep soda cold at a picnic seems archaic . But until recently , it was the only option hospitals had . That changed with heart-in-a-box . In 2006 , surgeons in Europe transplanted the first heart using the TransMedics Organ Care System , a portable device that kept the heart `` alive '' -- beating , with blood and oxygen flowing through it -- during transport . In 2011 , doctors began successfully transplanting lungs using a similar device . While the system has been approved for use in Europe -- more than 200 live organ transplants have been completed to date -- clinical trials are still wrapping up in the United States . Interim results from those studies are being presented at the annual International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation meeting in Montreal this week . Approximately 60 % of lung recipients die in the first five years following surgery due to complications , according to the National Institutes of Health ; scientists hope to change that statistic with this new technology . Woman needs 4 organs to survive . There are three potential benefits to keeping donor organs `` alive , '' said Ardehali , who is UCLA 's principal investigator for one of the studies . The first is obvious : Organs that are kept warm and functioning instead of being placed on ice have less damage , so the recipient 's body does n't have to work as hard to accept it , Ardehali said . That may improve patient outcomes . Doctors measure a lung transplant patient 's `` primary graft dysfunction '' in the days following surgery , said Neal Beswick , vice president of global marketing for TransMedics . That 's basically an indicator of how well the new lungs are working . Past studies have shown that patients with high grades of graft dysfunction in the first 48 hours have a higher risk of organ rejection and early mortality later on , Beswick said . Preliminary results from the U.S. breathing lung transplant studies suggest this new method significantly reduces primary graft dysfunction . Patients who underwent live organ transplants during the study also spent less time on a mechanical ventilator , less time in the intensive care unit and had fewer lung-related complications . The portable transplant system also enables doctors to keep organs outside the body longer , giving hospitals the opportunity to share them across a larger geographic region . More than 114,000 people in the United States are awaiting organ donations , according to Organdonor.gov ; 18 of them die each day without a donation . Iraq vet undergoes successful double-arm transplant . `` We 'd like to increase lung transplantation by a factor of three , '' Beswick said . `` And we think that we could double the number of heart transplants without any increase in the number of organ donors . '' Eventually , scientists may even be able to improve donor organs that would otherwise be discarded , Ardehali said . Currently , 75 to 80 % of donor lungs are rejected because they are infected or have too much damage , he said . If doctors are able to keep the lungs , or other organs , alive outside the body for several days , they may be able to clear up any infection with antibiotics or improve the organs ' resilience . It 's a bit of `` science fiction '' right now , Beswick said , but doctors in the future could even use the TransMedics device to fight chronic diseases . For example , if doctors could remove the lungs of a stage IV cancer patient and attack the organs with radiation outside the body , they could potentially place the same cancer-free lungs back in the patient a few days later , effectively eliminating the need for donor lungs at all . `` A lot of things become real become real if the organ can be sustained for a long period of time , '' Beswick said . Hospitals pay approximately 45,000 euros -- or $ 58,000 -- for each TransMedic Organ Care System . While the hardware can be reused , the organ chamber must be disposed of after each transplant , Beswick said . `` It 's a relatively high cost per patient . '' TransMedic hopes to finish the U.S. heart trial in the next 90 days ; the lung trial should be done by the end of the year . The company then hopes to submit their device to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval . Heavy smokers can be successful lung donor candidates .
In addition , surgeons can keep donor hearts and other ` ` alive '' during surgery . Clinical trials on the live organ transplant device are coming up in the United States . Scientists hope to increase donor life , improve patient outcomes .