Donor organ assessment and reconditioning using ex vivo machine perfusion

Donor organ assessment and reconditioning using ex vivo machine perfusion

Our department has pioneered the development and clinical translation of normothermic machine perfusion as a platform for assessment and reconditioning of donor organs (liver and kidney). We collaborate with PIs in the Department of Surgery (Professor Nicholson and Professor Watson) and support translational research studies utilising NMP as a platform to investigate mechanisms of ischaemia-reperfusion injury of donor organs, establish parameters during machine perfusion that predict optimal organ function after transplantation, and to identify novel therapeutic targets for organ reconditioning and repair. We are particularly interested in novel clinical trials to help translate laboratory findings into clinical practice. 

Key References

Watson CJE, MacDonald S, Bridgeman C, et al. D-dimer Release From Livers During Ex Situ Normothermic Perfusion and After In Situ Normothermic Regional Perfusion: Evidence for Occult Fibrin Burden Associated With Adverse Transplant Outcomes and Cholangiopathy. Transplantation. 2023 Jan 6. doi: 10.1097

Gaurav R, Butler AJ, Kosmoliaptsis V, Mumford L, Fear C, Swift L, Fedotovs A, Upponi S, Khwaja S, Richards J, Allison M, Watson CJE. Liver transplantation outcomes from controlled circulatory death donors: Static cold storage vs in situ normothermic regional perfusion vs ex situ normothermic machine perfusion. Annals of Surgery 2022; 275: 1156

Watson CJE, Kosmoliaptsis V, Pley C, Randle L, Fear C, Crick K, Gimson AE, Allison M, Upponi S, Brais R, Jochmans I, Butler AJ. Observations on the ex situ perfusion of livers for transplantation. Am J Transplant. 2018; 18: 2005

Watson CJ, Kosmoliaptsis V, Randle LV, Gimson AE, Brais R, Klinck JR, Hamed M, Tsyben A, Butler AJ. Normothermic perfusion in the assessment and preservation of declined livers prior to transplantation: hyperoxia and vasoplegia - important lessons from the first 12 cases. Transplantation 2017; 101: 1084