1. Transplantation of a human liver following 3 days of ex situ normothermic preservation
- Author
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Clavien, Pierre-Alain, Dutkowski, Philipp, Mueller, Matteo, Eshmuminov, Dilmurodjon, Bautista Borrego, Lucia, Weber, Achim, Muellhaupt, Beat, Sousa Da Silva, Richard X, Burg, Brian R, Rudolf von Rohr, Philipp, Schuler, Martin J, Becker, Dustin, Hefti, Max, Tibbitt, Mark W, University of Zurich, and Clavien, Pierre-Alain
- Subjects
1502 Bioengineering ,Biomedical Engineering ,2204 Biomedical Engineering ,610 Medicine & health ,Bioengineering ,Organ Preservation ,Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology ,Liver Transplantation ,Perfusion ,10219 Clinic for Gastroenterology and Hepatology ,Liver ,10049 Institute of Pathology and Molecular Pathology ,1313 Molecular Medicine ,1305 Biotechnology ,Quality of Life ,2402 Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology ,Humans ,Molecular Medicine ,Biotechnology - Abstract
Current organ preservation methods provide a narrow window (usually12 hours) to assess, transport and implant donor grafts for human transplantation. Here we report the transplantation of a human liver discarded by all centers, which could be preserved for several days using ex situ normothermic machine perfusion. The transplanted liver exhibited normal function, with minimal reperfusion injury and the need for only a minimal immunosuppressive regimen. The patient rapidly recovered a normal quality of life without any signs of liver damage, such as rejection or injury to the bile ducts, according to a 1-year follow up. This inaugural clinical success opens new horizons in clinical research and promises an extended time window of up to 10 days for assessment of viability of donor organs as well as converting an urgent and highly demanding surgery into an elective procedure.
- Published
- 2022