Rewriting the Rules of Organ Logistics: Moving Beyond Ice and Phase Change Materials
For over half a century, the standard for transporting donor organs has been astonishingly low-tech: a cooler, some ice, and a race against time. In recent years, more advanced options like phase change materials (PCMs) have emerged, promising to improve thermal control during transport.
But here's the truth: while ice and PCMs are marginal improvements, they’re still fundamentally passive solutions. In a field where every degree and every minute count, we need more than passive—we need precise.
At ScubaTx, we’re introducing a new standard: active, precision hypothermic control - we call it advanced temperature control (ATC), built for the complexity of modern transplantation.
❄️ The Problem with Ice
Ice has been the mainstay of organ preservation since the 1960s. It’s accessible, inexpensive, and effective at one thing: making things cold.
But it has serious limitations:
No temperature control: Ice cools indiscriminately. It can create cold spots that drop below 0°C, leading to localized freezing damage.
Unpredictable variability: Internal temperatures fluctuate over time as the ice melts and ambient conditions change.
No monitoring: Once an organ is packed, there’s no visibility into its thermal environment until it reaches its destination.
The result? Risk to organ viability, especially for sensitive or marginal grafts.
🧊 Phase Change Materials: A Step, Not a Solution
PCMs, which melt or solidify at specific temperatures (often around 4°C), were introduced to improve upon the chaotic cooling of ice. They act as thermal buffers—absorbing or releasing heat as they change state.
And while they’re better than ice in some ways, they’re still limited:
Still passive: They can only buffer temperature drift—they can’t actively respond to external conditions.
Fixed set points: Once selected, a PCM's temperature cannot be tuned for organ-specific needs.
No feedback: Like ice, PCMs don’t integrate with monitoring or control systems.
In essence, PCMs are fancy cold packs—not a dynamic preservation strategy.
🎯 ScubaTx: Precision Hypothermia in Real Time
ScubaTx replaces passive thermal control with a smart, sensor-driven hypothermic platform designed specifically for transplant medicine.
Here’s what sets it apart:
Active temperature regulation: The system doesn’t just maintain cold—it modulates temperature within a tight, programmable range based on organ type.
Organ-specific targeting: A liver and a kidney aren’t the same—and neither are their optimal preservation conditions. ScubaTx allows for customization.
Continuous monitoring: Integrated sensors feed real-time data to ensure consistent, uniform cooling—no blind spots, no surprises.
Reduced thermal stress: By avoiding overcooling and temperature fluctuations, we protect tissue integrity and minimize ischemic injury.
This turns organ preservation from an art into a controlled science.
🧬 Why Precision Matters
The difference between 2°C and 6°C isn’t academic—it’s clinical. Even small variations in hypothermic conditions can affect:
Mitochondrial stability
Cell membrane integrity
Oxygen debt accumulation
Post-transplant graft function
Precision hypothermia helps slow metabolism just enough—without inducing cold-induced damage. That balance is crucial, especially as transplant programs expand to include higher-risk organs and longer transport windows.
⏭️ Looking Ahead: Oxygenation + Precision
While ScubaTx’s active hypothermic system is already setting a new standard in thermal control, we’re also preparing to introduce persufflation—direct oxygen delivery to the organ during preservation.
This will further mitigate ischemic injury and extend viable preservation times. But even without oxygenation, active thermal control alone outperforms both ice and PCMs in maintaining organ quality during transport.
🛠️ A Better Tool for a Critical Job
Transplant medicine has advanced by leaps and bounds—but until now, the tools we’ve used to preserve organs haven’t kept pace. Ice and PCMs were never designed with biology in mind. ScubaTx is.
We're not just keeping organs cold.
We're keeping them viable—with precision, consistency, and confidence.
Learn how ScubaTx is modernizing organ transport. Contact us to explore clinical trials, research partnerships, or implementation in your transplant program.