Machine perfusion in solid organ transplantation: where is the benefit? Langenbecks Arch Surg. 2014;399:421-427. [PMID: 24429900 DOI: 10.1007/s00423-014-1161-2]

Experimental long-term sub-normothermic machine perfusion for non-allocable human liver grafts: first data towards feasibility

Background

Patients with end-stage liver disease can only be cured by liver transplantation. Due to the gap between demand and supply, surgeons are forced to use expanded criteria donor (ECD) organs, which are more susceptible to ischemia–reperfusion injury (IRI). Therefore, enhanced storing techniques are required. Machine perfusion (MP) has moved into the spotlight of research because of its feasibility for investigating liver function prior to implantation. However, as the perfect MP protocol has not yet been found, we aimed to investigate the potential of sub-normothermic (SN)MP in this field.

Methods

Non-allocable human livers were subjected to 24 h of SNMP at 21 °C after delivery to the study team. Perfusion was performed with Custodiol® (Dr. Franz Köhler Chemie, Bensheim, Germany) or Belzer MPS® (Bridge to Life Europe, London, UK) and perfusate liver parameters were determined. For determination of biliary conditions, pH, glucose, and HCO3- levels were measured.

Results

Liver parameters were slightly increased irrespective of perfusate or reason for liver rejection during 24 h of perfusion. Six livers failed to produce bile completely, whereas the remaining 10 livers produced between 2.4 ml and 179 ml of bile. Biliary carbonate was increased in all but one liver. The bile-glucose-to-perfusate-glucose ratio was near 1 for most of the organs and bile pH was above 7 in all but one case.

Conclusion

This study provides promising data on the feasibility of long-term SNMP as a tool to gain time during MP to optimize ECD organs to decrease the gap between organ demand and supply.

Long-term (24 h) sub-normothermic liver machine perfusion seems to be possible, although some adjustments to the protocol might be necessary to improve the general outcome. This has so far been shown for normothermic machine perfusion, bearing some drawbacks compared to the sub-normothermic variant.

New Strategies to Expand and Optimize Heart Donor Pool: Ex Vivo Heart Perfusion and Donation After Circulatory Death: A Review of Current Research and Future Trends

Heart transplantation remains the definitive management for end-stage heart failure refractory to medical therapy. While heart transplantation cases are increasing annually worldwide, there remains a deficiency in organ availability with significant patient mortality while on the waiting list. Attempts have therefore been made to expand the donor pool and improve access to available organs by recruiting donors who may not satisfy the standard criteria for organ donation because of donor pathology, anticipated organ ischemic time, or donation after circulatory death. "Ex vivo" heart perfusion (EVHP) is an emerging technique for the procurement of heart allografts. This technique provides mechanically supported warm circulation to a beating heart once removed from the donor and before implantation into the recipient. EVHP can be sustained for several hours, facilitate extended travel time, and enable administration of pharmacological agents to optimize cardiac recovery and function, as well as allow assessment of allograft function before implantation. In this article, we review recent advances in expanding the donor pool for cardiac transplantation. Current limitations of conventional donor criteria are outlined, including the determinants of organ suitability and assessment, involving transplantation of donation after circulatory death hearts, extended criteria donors, and EVHP-associated assessment, optimization, and transportation. Finally, ongoing research relating to organ optimization and functional ex vivo allograft assessment are reviewed.

Early markers of reperfusion injury after liver transplantation: association with primary dysfunction

BACKGROUND

In patients with end-stage liver disease, liver transplantation is the only available curative treatment. Although the outcome and quality of life in the patients have improved over the past decades, primary dys- or nonfunction (PDF/PNF) can occur. Early detection of PDF and PNF is crucial and could lead to individual therapies. This study was designed to identify early markers of reperfusion injury and PDF in liver biopsies taken during the first hour after reperfusion.

METHODS

Biopsies from donor livers were prospectively taken as a routine during the first hour after reperfusion. Recipient data, transaminases and outcome were routinely monitored. In total, 10 biopsy specimens taken from patients with 90-day mortality and PDF, and patients with long-term survival but without PDF were used for DNA microarrays. Markers that were significantly up- or down-regulated in the microarray were verified using quantitative real-time PCR.

RESULTS

Age, indications and labMELD score were similar in both groups. Peak-transaminases during the first week after transplantation were significantly different in the two groups. In total, 20 differentially regulated markers that correlated to PDF were identified using microarray analysis and verified with quantitative real-time PCR.

CONCLUSIONS

The markers identified in this study could predict PDF at a very early time point and might point to interventions that ameliorate reperfusion injury and thus prevent PDF. Identification of patients and organs at risk might lead to individualized therapies and could ultimately improve outcome.

What's new in clinical solid organ transplantation by 2013

Innovative and exciting advances in the clinical science in solid organ transplantation continuously realize as the results of studies, clinical trials, international conferences, consensus conferences, new technologies and discoveries. This review will address to the full spectrum of news in transplantation, that verified by 2013. The key areas covered are the transplantation activity, with particular regards to the donors, the news for solid organs such as kidney, pancreas, liver, heart and lung, the news in immunosuppressive therapies, the news in the field of tolerance and some of the main complications following transplantation as infections and cancers. The period of time covered by the study starts from the international meetings held in 2012, whose results were published in 2013, up to the 2013 meetings, conferences and consensus published in the first months of 2014. In particular for every organ, the trends in numbers and survival have been reviewed as well as the most relevant problems such as organ preservation, ischemia reperfusion injuries, and rejections with particular regards to the antibody mediated rejection that involves all solid organs. The new drugs and strategies applied in organ transplantation have been divided into new way of using old drugs or strategies and drugs new not yet on the market, but on phase Ito III of clinical studies and trials.

New strategies and concepts in organ preservation

Organ transplantation is still affected by a notable degree of preservation-associated ischemia and reperfusion injury, which can seriously hamper early graft function. The increasing extension of the criteria for donor organ acceptance, especially for organs that have suffered from periods of warm ischemic injury prior to graft retrieval, results in even higher demands on preserving these ischemia-sensitive grafts. Growing attention is thus directed towards more dynamic preservation methods instead of simple static storage. Particularly in grafts that are retrieved after cardiac standstill of the donor, provision of oxygen to enable some kind of regenerative metabolism appears to be desirable, although the optimal temperature for oxygenated preservation/revitalization is still under debate. Hybrid solutions, comprising conventional cold storage for ease of graft procurement and transportation together with more sophisticated 'in-house' reconditioning protocols after arrival at the implantation clinic, might help to minimize graft injury during the critical transition from preservation to reperfusion.