Normothermic machine perfusion of explanted livers: Exploratory study of an alternative translational model for end-stage liver disease

Background

Normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) is a technique for donor liver preservation and assessment in transplantation. NMP has gained momentum recently by enabling safer use of higher risk organs via organ viability assessment. It also offers a platform for investigating ex vivo organ biology.

Methods

In this exploratory study, we completed a complex vascular reconstruction of explanted, diseased livers from patients undergoing transplantation and then perfused them normothermically on a closed perfusion circuit. We compared these livers to non-diseased donor livers via perfusate samples collected during perfusion.

Results

Five hepatectomized grafts and eight donor livers were perfused for 1 h or longer. Four hepatectomized livers cleared lactate, and all consumed glucose; all control livers cleared lactate, and seven utilized glucose. Significantly higher portal vein flows were achieved in the control group.

Conclusions

Our findings illustrate the feasibility of using closed-circuit NMP as a platform to study hepatectomized organs, which could reshape the research landscape in mechanisms of disease and applied therapeutics for patients with end-stage liver disease.