Normothermic Machine Perfusion of Deceased Donor Liver Grafts Is Associated With Improved Postreperfusion Hemodynamics

BACKGROUND Graft reperfusion poses a critical challenge during liver transplantation and can be associated with hemodynamic instability/postreperfusion syndrome. This is sequel to ischemia-reperfusion injury and normothermic machine preservation (NMP) may affect hemodynamic changes. Herein, we characterize postreperfusion hemodynamics in liver grafts after NMP and traditional cold preservation. MATERIALS AND METHODS Intraoperative records of patients receiving grafts after NMP (n = 6; NMP group) and cold storage (CS) (n = 12; CS group) were compared. The mean arterial pressure (MAP) was defined as the average pressure in the radial artery during 1 cardiac cycle by invasive monitoring. Postreperfusion syndrome was defined as MAP drop greater than 30% of baseline, lasting for 1 minute or longer within the first 5 minutes from graft reperfusion. RESULTS Donor, recipient, demographics, and surgical parameters were evenly matched. Normothermic machine preservation grafts were perfused for 525 minutes (395-605 minutes) after initial cold ischemic time of 91 minutes (73-117 minutes), whereas in CS group cold ischemic time was 456 minutes (347-685 minutes) (P = 0.001). None developed postreperfusion syndrome in the NMP group against n = 2 (16.7%) in CS group (P = 0.529). Normothermic machine preservation group had better intraoperative MAP at 90 minutes postreperfusion (P = 0.029), achieved with a significantly less vasopressor requirement (P = <0.05) and less transfusion of blood products (P = 0.030) compared with CS group. CONCLUSIONS Normothermic machine perfusion is associated with a stable intraoperative hemodynamic profile postreperfusion, requiring significantly less vasopressor infusions and blood product transfusion after graft reperfusion and may have benefit to alleviate ischemia-reperfusion injury in liver transplantation.