Six-hour porcine liver storage without flushing or perfusion

Livers from normal porcine donors were preserved by surface cooling only, without flushing or perfusion, for periods up to 24 hr. All recipients of livers stored for 6 hr survived until sacrifice at 7 days. In a separate, similar group, survival up to 21 days was noted. Only 2 of 6 recipients survived after 9-hr liver storage, but one of these lived for greater than 120 days. No animals survived longer than 2 days after transplantation of livers stored for 12 or 24 hr. The changes in plasma levels of aspartate aminotransferase of recipients of 6-hr surface-cooled livers were not significantly different from AST levels of recipients of livers stored in University of Wisconsin or Euro-Collins solution as observed in previous studies in this laboratory. At sacrifice after 7 days, there was no histologic evidence of damage after surface cooling. In the light of recent reports of evidence of endothelial and reticuloendothelial damage caused by flushing solutions, it is suggested that surface cooling of the liver may provide adequate preservation for 6 hr in appropriate circumstances. Further studies will be needed to confirm that this method of preservation is applicable to livers removed from brain-dead donors and that it does not cause endothelial damage.