Normothermic Regional Perfusion and Hypothermic Oxygenated Machine Perfusion for Livers Donated After Controlled Circulatory Death With Prolonged Warm Ischemia Time: A Matched Comparison With Livers From Brain-Dead Donors

Abstract

Prolonged warm ischemia time (WIT) has a negative prognostic value in liver transplantation (LT) using grafts procured after circulatory death (DCD). To assess the value of abdominal normothermic regional perfusion (A-NRP) associated with dual hypothermic oxygenated machine perfusion (D-HOPE) in controlled DCD LT, prospectively collected data on LTs performed between January 2016 and July 2021 were analyzed. Outcome of controlled DCD LTs performed using A-NRP + D-HOPE ( n = 20) were compared to those performed with grafts procured after brain death (DBD) ( n = 40), selected using propensity-score matching. DCD utilization rate was 59.5%. In the DCD group, median functional WIT, A-NRP and D-HOPE time was 43, 246, and 205 min, respectively. Early outcomes of DCD grafts recipients were comparable to those of matched DBD LTs. In DCD and DBD group, incidence of anastomotic biliary complications and ischemic cholangiopathy was 15% versus 22% ( p = 0.73) and 5% versus 2% ( p = 1), respectively. One-year patient and graft survival was 100% versus 95% ( p = 0.18) and 90% versus 95% ( p = 0.82). In conclusion, the association of A-NRP + D-HOPE in DCD LT with prolonged WIT allows achieving comparable outcomes to DBD LT.