Published in 2015, Dutkowski et al present the results of the first comparative study on the impact of Hypothermic Oxygenated Perfusion (HOPE) using Liver Assist* in DCD liver transplantation. 25 HOPE-treated DCD livers were compared to a matched cohort of 50 DCD livers preserved with SCS. The study shows that, compared to SCS, end-ischemic HOPE of DCD-livers improves early allograft function (EAD: 20% vs 44%, p=0.046), reduces graft injury in terms of intrahepatic cholangiopathy (0% vs 22%, p=0.015), biliary complications (20% vs 46%, p=0.042), and improves 1-year graft survival (90% vs 69%, p=0.035). In addition, HOPE-treated DCD livers achieved similar results as matched DBD livers (n=50) in all investigated endpoints. The authors conclude that the study provides strong evidence that applying HOPE protects extended DCD livers from initial reperfusion injury leading to better graft function and the prevention of intrahepatic biliary complications.
*The device used was ECOPS – an early version of Liver Assist.
“HOPE may therefore offer optimization of liver grafts before implantation by a simple and practical perfusion technique with a high impact on enlarging the donor pool.”
Dutkowski et al 2015
Ann Surg / 2015 / doi: 10.1097/sla.0000000000001473
