In this prespective, observational study, the effect of sequential hypothermic and normothermic machine perfusion was assessed. Briefly, after SCS, 54 initially discarded, high-risk (median DRI: 2.84) donor livers were placed on the Liver Assist for 1 hour of ‘resuscitation’ using DHOPE. After DHOPE, the temperature of the perfusion solution* was gradually increased (+1°C/2min) until reaching 37°C, whereby hepatobiliary viability was assessed during the initial 2.5h of NMP. After DHOPE-NMP, 34 livers (63%) met the predefined viability criteria and were subsequently transplanted. With a 1-year patient and graft survival of 100% and 94%, respectively, no incidence of primary non function (PNF) or hepatic artery thrombosis (HAT) and only one patient (3%) developing non-anastomotic biliary strictures (NAS), this study demonstrates that seqential use of DHOPE and NMP using Liver Assist enables safe selection of initially rejected high-risk livers with excellent results, providing an effective tool to increase the number of suitable donor organs for transplantation.
* For details regarding exact protocol and perfusion solutions used, see van Leeuwen et al 2022
“/…/ [DHOPE-NMP] provides an effective tool to increase the number of suitable donor organs for transplantation.”
van Leeuwen et al 2022
Am J Transplant / 2022 / doi: 10.1111/ajt.17022
