Effect of storage temperature on early graft function following liver transplantation

The effect of storage temperature on early graft function following liver transplantation was investigated by analyzing the results following transplantation during three periods in which different techniques for graft storage were used. The techniques involved ice-packing (period 1), storage in a standard operating room refrigerator without ice-packing (period 2) and storage in an accurately controlled refrigerator without ice-packing (period 3). In period 2 there was a significantly higher incidence of histological lesions, primary non-function and retransplantation compared to periods 1 and 3. It was concluded that this was due to inaccurate control of the standard refrigerator in period 2, thus allowing the temperature of the graft to increase, while in periods 1 and 3 the graft temperature was kept close to 4 degrees C by ice-packing and accurate refrigerator control, respectively. These results demonstrate that accurate control of storage temperature is important in terms of subsequent graft function. This may become more important as storage times are progressively increased with the use of UW solution.