Real-Time Viability Assessment of Ex Vivo Mouse Kidneys for Transplant Applications Using Dynamic Optical Coherence...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Transplantation Science
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Kidney transplantation is the optimal treatment for end-stage kidney disease, but donor organ shortage is a major limitation.
• Current organ evaluation methods like KDPI and PTDB have limitations, including poor accuracy and invasiveness, leading to organ discard.
• Improved methods are needed for real-time assessment of ex vivo organ viability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate dynamic optical coherence tomography (DOCT) as a non-invasive tool for monitoring ex vivo mouse kidney viability.
• To assess the potential of DOCT to evaluate organ quality during static cold storage.

Main Methods:

• Dynamic optical coherence tomography (DOCT) was used to image ex vivo mouse kidneys over 48 hours of static cold storage.
• Key dynamic metrics—logarithmic intensity variance (LIV) and early/late OCT correlation decay speed (OCDS_e/OCDS_l)—were extracted from OCT signal fluctuations.
• These metrics quantified temporal and spatial tissue activity and deterioration.

Main Results:

• DOCT successfully monitored kidney viability in real-time during cold storage.
• Extracted dynamic metrics reflected tissue activity and deterioration.
• DOCT provided functional information complementary to conventional morphological assessment.

Conclusions:

• Dynamic optical coherence tomography is a promising non-invasive technology for assessing ex vivo kidney viability.
• DOCT has the potential to enhance pre-transplant organ evaluation and inform clinical decision-making.
• This technique could help reduce unnecessary organ discard in kidney transplantation.