Isolated perfused cirrhotic human liver obtained from liver transplant patients: A feasibility study

✍ Scribed by Dr. Jean-Pierre Villeneuve; P.-Michel Huet; Louise Gariepy; Daphna Fenyves; Bernard Willems; Jean Cǒté; Réal Lapointe; Denis Marleau

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 575 KB
• Volume: 12
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0270-9139
• DOI: 10.1002/hep.1840120212

✦ Synopsis

Cirrhotic livers obtained from eight patients who underwent orthotopic liver transplantation were perfused through the portal vein and hepatic artery in a closed recycling system for periods ranging from 2 to 7 hr. An average perfusion flow of 461 ml/min was used, with about 80% coming from the portal vein and 20% from the hepatic artery. The livers appeared to remain viable as BB8888ed by gross appearance, stable portal vein and hepatic artery pressures, oxygen consumption and bile production. The extraction ratio of indocyanine green by the perfused livers averaged 0.098 (range = 0.023 to 0.168); that of propranolol averaged 0.446 (range = 0.126 to 0.813). Using the multipleindicator dilution-curve method, shunts >16 km in diameter were demonstrated between the portal and hepatic veins in six of eight cases, whereas shunts from the hepatic artery to the hepatic veins were absent. Perfusion of human livers obtained during hepatic transplantation is a fairly simple procedure that w i l l allow reaearchers to gain new insighb into cirrhosis in humans. (&PATOLOW 1990;12:267-263.)