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INTEGRIS Health is the first in the country to perform a liver transplant, outside of a clinical trial, using the OrganOx metra device. The device is owned and operated by the organ procurement organization for the state, LifeShare of Oklahoma. The machine is designed to sustain donor livers destined for transplantation in a functioning state during the period between donation and transplantation using oxygenated blood at normal body temperature.

After recovery of the liver from the donor, an in-house team of specially trained technicians from LifeShare was responsible for placing the organ on the perfusion device, while the recipient was simultaneously being prepared for surgery at INTEGRIS Health. It is a true partnership in saving lives through donation and transplant.

“Traditionally, you have up to 12 hours to retrieve the liver from the donor, take it to its destination and transplant it into the recipient,” says Vivek Kohli, M.D., the director of abdominal transplants and hepatobiliary surgery at the Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute at INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City. “With this new technology, the liver is preserved with warm oxygenated blood, this improves the organ preservation and extends preservation time beyond the usual 12 hours.”

The liver transplant team at INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center conducted the nation’s first non-clinical trial liver transplant using the device on May 27, 2022. Additionally, LifeShare’s team became the first in the nation to preserve an organ for transplant on the metra.

Johnny Holliday (51) of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma was the recipient. “We had no idea until after the surgery when Dr. Kohli told my wife that I was making medical history.”

“We were blown away,” exclaims Melanie Holliday, Johnny’s wife. “We were so very grateful and excited to be a part of this game changing technology.”

The pair, who were high school sweethearts, feel they are living a modern miracle. “We believe in science, but we believe God set us on the right path,” Melanie declares. “He guided us to the right institution, to the right doctors and allowed us to benefit from the right device in order for us to have the positive outcome we did.”

It all started with some routine lab work. Some of Johnny’s readings came back unusual. His liver enzymes were elevated and he was eventually diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. The disease is not curable and progresses with time. “I was shocked because I felt fine,” remembers Johnny. “I had no idea how sick I would become.”

He was referred to the Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute when his condition rapidly deteriorated.  

“It became evident that Mr. Holliday would need a liver transplant in order to survive,” says Hamid Sima, M.D., the medical director of hepatology and gastroenterology at INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center. “He was placed on the transplant list and then miraculously got a liver just six days later.”

The Hollidays are sensitive to the fact that not everyone has the same experience or outcome. They hope by sharing their story, they can offer others hope.

“There’s new hope on the horizon for the more than 11,000 Americans waiting for a liver transplant,” says Jeffrey Orlowski, the president and chief executive officer of LifeShare OK. “This new technology allows us to increase the number of donor organs available for transplant, meaning surgeons like Dr. Kohli and his team can save more lives.”