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Updated: Jun 10, 2025
Functional Human Liver Preservation and Recovery by Means of Subnormothermic Machine Perfusion
Published on: April 27, 2015
Dual hypothermic oxygenated machine perfusion of the liver reduces post-transplant biliary complications: a
David Pereyra1,2, Jule Dingfelder1,2, Moriz Riha1
1Department of General Surgery, Division of Transplantation, Medical University of Vienna, General Hospital of Vienna.
Background:
Corroborating evidence for the use of hypothermic oxygenated machine perfusion (HOPE) prior to orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) suggests a beneficial effect in regard to biliary complications. Here, the authors aim to evaluate whether perfusion via portal vein alone (sHOPE) or via additional perfusion of the hepatic artery (dHOPE) have diverging impact on outcomes after OLT when compared to the use of static cold storage (SCS).
Methods:
Consecutive patients undergoing OLT at the Medical University of Vienna (2018-2023) were retrospectively analyzed. Donor organs were procured using SCS, or subjected to end-ischemic sHOPE or dHOPE. The severity of biliary complications was classified according to the degree of therapeutic intervention (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography or surgical revision).
Results:
Two hundred forty-seven patients were included (69 SCS, 76 sHOPE, and 102 dHOPE). Hospitalization was shorter for patients after HOPE (median in days: SCS=25 vs HOPE=20, P =0.019). Biliary complications were less frequent in patients after HOPE (SCS=37.7% vs HOPE=22.5%, P =0.015). A significantly lower incidence of surgical revisions for biliary complications was observed in the HOPE cohort (24.6% vs 11.8%, P =0.012). When evaluating outcome according to HOPE-modality, a significant reduction in biliary complications ( P =0.006) and surgical revisions ( P =0.002) was only observed in dHOPE patients in comparison to SCS. Further, only dHOPE was significantly associated with a reduced need for surgical revision for biliary complications upon univariable and multivariable logistic regression (odds ratio=0.336, P =0.011).
Conclusion:
HOPE leads to a reduction of biliary complications and associated surgical revisions. This effect seems to be primarily associated with use of dHOPE, while both methods appear as feasible options for preconditioning of donor grafts prior to OLT.
