A Porcine Model for Non-heart Beating Donor Liver Transplantation

Chung, Jung Kee; Jung, In Mok; Suh, Jun Suk; Kim, Young Chul; Kang, Han Seong; Kwon, Oh Joong; Kim, Ji Eun; Ha, Jong Won; Suh, Kyung Suk; Lee, Kun Wook; Kim, Sang Joon

Abstract

PURPOSE: Non-heart-beating liver transplantation has been accepted as a substitute to overcome the donor shortage problem. However, prolonged warm ischemia during liver procurement remains a obstacle to widespread use of non- heart-beating transplantation. Therefore, experimental studies to ameliorate graft injuries have been conducted, but, their clinical applications are not satisfactory yet. The aim of this study is to test our experimental model as a pertinent non- heart-beating transplantation model.
METHODS
We designed porcine non-heart-beating liver transplantation model by simultaneous liver procurement of donor and recipient. Cardiac death was induced by direct cardiac injection of potassium chloride. Perfusion of normothermic hypertonic saline started after 30-min (group A, N=5), 1-hour (group B, N=4). Orthotopic liver transplantation with perfused donor liver was performed and we compared the perioperative laboratory parameter, histologic findings and survival between two groups.
RESULTS
Only one (11.1%) death occurred among the nine transplant pigs. 2-day survival rates of group A and B were 60%, 50%, respectively. Group A showed a relatively acceptable posttransplant laboratory findings including liver function test and normal-looking histologic feature at the time of reperfusion and 24 hours after reperfusion. Group B showed more deranged liver function test and ischemic liver cell morphology at 24 hours after reperfusion.
CONCLUSION
Our results suggest that this porcine non-heart-beating transplantation model may be the safe and suitable method. This model will be useful in further study for testing the perfusate and drugs to ameliorate the warm ischemia-induced hepatic injury.