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Technique of Subnormothermic Ex Vivo Liver Perfusion for the Storage, Assessment, and Repair of Marginal Liver Grafts
Published on: August 13, 2014
Ex-vivo normothermic liver perfusion: an update
Thomas Vogel1, Jens G Brockmann, Peter J Friend
1Nuffield Department of Surgery, Oxford Transplant Centre, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Current Opinion in Organ Transplantation
|February 27, 2010
Summary
Normothermic machine perfusion offers a promising alternative to traditional cold storage for preserving donor livers, potentially improving graft viability and utilization for transplantation.
Area of Science:
- Transplantation immunology
- Organ preservation techniques
- Surgical innovation
Background:
- Growing disparity between donor organ supply and recipient demand.
- High discard rates for livers due to primary nonfunction risk.
- Need for optimal utilization of extended criteria donor organs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) for liver preservation.
- To explore NMP's potential in utilizing extended criteria donor livers.
- To assess NMP's role in improving graft viability and function.
Main Methods:
- Review of current organ preservation standards (hypothermic static cold storage).
- Analysis of experimental and emerging normothermic machine perfusion techniques.
- Evaluation of NMP's potential benefits for liver grafts.
Main Results:
- Normothermic perfusion shows superiority over cold storage in experimental settings.
- NMP offers potential for long-term preservation of extended criteria grafts.
- NMP allows for in-situ assessment and potential improvement of graft condition.
Conclusions:
- NMP could enable reliable transplantation of extended criteria donor livers by mitigating preservation injury.
- Clinical validation of NMP for human livers is a critical next step.
- Development and integration of functional NMP devices into clinical practice are needed.
