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A randomized trial of normothermic preservation in liver transplantation
- David Nasralla1,
- Constantin C. Coussios2,
- Hynek Mergental3,
- M. Zeeshan Akhtar1,4,
- Andrew J. Butler5,
- Carlo D. L. Ceresa1,
- Virginia Chiocchia6,7,
- Susan J. Dutton8,
- Juan Carlos García-Valdecasas9,
- Nigel Heaton10,
- Charles Imber11,
- Wayel Jassem10,
- Ina Jochmans12,13,
- John Karani10,14,
- Simon R. Knight1,15,
- Peri Kocabayoglu16,
- Massimo Malagò11,
- Darius Mirza3,
- Peter J. Morris1,15,
- Arvind Pallan17,
- Andreas Paul16,
- Mihai Pavel9,
- M. Thamara P. R. Perera3,
- Jacques Pirenne12,13,
- Reena Ravikumar1,
- Leslie Russell18,
- Sara Upponi19,
- Chris J. E. Watson5,20,
- Annemarie Weissenbacher1,
- Rutger J. Ploeg1 &
- Peter J. Friend1
- for the Consortium for Organ Preservation in Europe
Naturevolume 557, pages50–56 (2018)Cite this article
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Abstract
Liver transplantation is a highly successful treatment, but is severely limited by the shortage in donor organs. However, many potential donor organs cannot be used; this is because sub-optimal livers do not tolerate conventional cold storage and there is no reliable way to assess organ viability preoperatively. Normothermic machine perfusion maintains the liver in a physiological state, avoids cooling and allows recovery and functional testing. Here we show that, in a randomized trial with 220 liver transplantations, compared to conventional static cold storage, normothermic preservation is associated with a 50% lower level of graft injury, measured by hepatocellular enzyme release, despite a 50% lower rate of organ discard and a 54% longer mean preservation time. There was no significant difference in bile duct complications, graft survival or survival of the patient. If translated to clinical practice, these results would have a major impact on liver transplant outcomes and waiting list mortality.
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Change history
23 April 2018
The Source Data files originally published with this article were missing for Extended Data Figures 3 and 4. This has now been corrected.
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Acknowledgements
This study was performed by the Consortium for Organ Preservation in Europe (COPE). We thank the European Commission for their support through the Seventh Framework Programme. The following organisations, groups and individuals also made substantial contributions without which this trial could not have been completed successfully: NHS Blood and Transplant; the Surgical Intervention Trials Unit, University of Oxford; the Clinical Trials and Research Governance unit, University of Oxford; Centre for Evidence in Transplantation, Royal College of Surgeons of England; the Liver Transplant Coordinators, anaesthetists and liver unit physicians at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, King’s College Hospital, London, the Royal Free Hospital London, Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, University Hospitals, Leuven, University Hospital, Essen; M. Soo, S. Morrish, C. Morris, L. Randle, R. Macedo Arantes, R. Morovat, A. Elsharkawy, G. Hirschfield, P. Muiesan, J. Isaac, J. Grayer, B. Buchholz, H. Vilca-Melendez, A. Zamalloa, D. Chasiotis, S. Khorsandi, B. Davidson, D. Sharma, A. Esson, D. Monbaliu, S. Mertens, S. Swoboda, J. Neuhaus, T. Benkö, V. Molina, R. Kumar, A. Bradley, M. Laspeyres, B. Patel, A. Mukwamba, S. Banks, the COPE Transplant Technicians, the Specialist Nurses in Organ Donation and, of course, all of the donors and their families. This study was funded by a European Commission Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) Grant (No 305934).
Reviewer information
Nature thanks S. Schneeberger, S. G. Tullius and the other anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
David Nasralla, M. Zeeshan Akhtar, Carlo D. L. Ceresa, Simon R. Knight, Peter J. Morris, Reena Ravikumar, Annemarie Weissenbacher, Rutger J. Ploeg & Peter J. Friend
Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Constantin C. Coussios
Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
Hynek Mergental, Darius Mirza & M. Thamara P. R. Perera
Target Discovery Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
M. Zeeshan Akhtar
University of Cambridge Department of Surgery, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, UK
Andrew J. Butler & Chris J. E. Watson
Centre for Statistics in Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Virginia Chiocchia
Surgical Intervention Trials Unit, Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Virginia Chiocchia
Oxford Clinical Trials Research Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Susan J. Dutton
Department of Hepatobiliopancreatic and Transplant Surgery, Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain
Juan Carlos García-Valdecasas & Mihai Pavel
Institute of Liver Studies, King’s College Hospital, London, UK
Nigel Heaton, Wayel Jassem & John Karani
Department of Hepatopancreatobiliary and Liver Transplant Surgery, Royal Free Hospital, London, UK
Charles Imber & Massimo Malagò
Abdominal Transplant Surgery, Department of Surgery, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Ina Jochmans & Jacques Pirenne
Laboratory of Abdominal Transplantation, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Ina Jochmans & Jacques Pirenne
Department of Radiology, King’s College Hospital, London, UK
John Karani
Centre for Evidence in Transplantation, Clinical Effectiveness Unit, Royal College of Surgeons of England, London, UK
Simon R. Knight & Peter J. Morris
Department of General, Visceral and Transplantation Surgery, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany
Peri Kocabayoglu & Andreas Paul
Department of Radiology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
Arvind Pallan
OrganOx Limited, Oxford, UK
Leslie Russell
Department of Radiology, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, UK
Sara Upponi
National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, Cambridge, UK
Chris J. E. Watson
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Contributions
D.N., S.R.K., R.J.P., C.C.C. and P.J.F. designed this study with help from other authors. R.J.P is Coordinator of the COPE Consortium. M.Z.A. and R.J.P. oversaw the collection of samples and establishment of the trial biobank. D.N., C.D.L.C., A.W., H.M., M.T.P.R.P., D.M., W.J., N.H., C.I., M.M., R.R., A.J.B., C.J.E.W., I.J., J.P., P.K., A.Pau., M.P. and J.C.G.-V. were responsible for the clinical conduct of the study at the respective trial sites. D.N., S.R.K., V.C. and S.J.D. were responsible for statistical design and analysis. L.R. and C.C.C. provided device support and expertise to all trial sites. D.N., S.U., A.Pal. and J.K. were responsible for MRCP image analysis. P.M., S.R.K. and S.J.D. provided governance oversight to ensure the study adhered to all regulatory and ethical requirements. All authors reviewed the manuscript.
Corresponding authors
Correspondence toDavid Nasralla,Constantin C. Coussios orPeter J. Friend.
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Competing interests
P.J.F. is a co-founder, chief medical officer and consultant to OrganOx Limited and also holds shares in the company. C.C.C. is a co-founder, chief technical officer and consultant to OrganOx Limited and also holds shares in the company. Neither P.J.F. nor C.C.C. were involved in the selection, recruitment or transplantation of patients in this study.
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Extended data figures and tables
Extended Data Fig. 1 Forest plot for subgroup analysis of peak AST by donor type.
Geometric mean ratio and 95% confidence interval are reported for each subgroup and overall for all groups. DBD group,n = 87 NMP,n = 80 SCS; DCD group,n = 33 NMP,n = 20 SCS.
Extended Data Fig. 2 Post-reperfusion syndrome.
a, Kaplan–Meier plot for one-year survival of patients with two-sided log-rank test.b, Kaplan–Meier plot for one-year graft survival with two-sided log-rank test.
Extended Data Fig. 3 Machine perfusion parameters during NMP.
a, Hepatic artery flow during NMP.b, Portal vein flow during NMP.c, Perfusate pH during NMP.d, Bile production during NMP.a–d, Data are mean ± s.d. of each time point. Actual values are shown in the table.n = 87.
Extended Data Fig. 4 Perfusate lactate levels during NMP.
Scatter graph with trend line showing perfusate lactate levels at different time points during NMP for all transplanted livers.n = 94.
Extended Data Fig. 5 NMP device and circuit.
a, OrganOx metra (generation 1). The NMP device used in the trial.b, OrganOx metra NMP circuit. The liver is perfused via the hepatic artery and portal vein. It drains via the inferior vena cava to a centrifugal pump through which the perfusate passes, via a heat exchanger/oxygenator, to a reservoir or directly into the hepatic artery. The perfusate in the reservoir drains under gravity into the portal vein.
Supplementary information
Supplementary Information
Clinical Trail Protocol. The full trial protocol for a multicentre randomised controlled trial to compare the efficacy of ex-vivo normothermic machine perfusion with static cold storage in human liver transplantation.
Supplementary Information
Statistical Analysis Plan. A comprehensive description of the statistical methodology applied to the trial data.
Supplementary Information
Final Statistical Report. The full report from trial statisticians reporting trial outcomes available at 1 year following completion of recruitment.
Supplementary Information
Primary Non-Function Serious Adverse Event. Clinical trial source document submitted to the trial Data Monitoring Committee providing a narrative description of the events surrounding the transplantation of a normothermic machine perfused liver which resulted in primary non-function of the organ.
Supplementary Information
Device Error Serious Adverse Event. Clinical trial source document submitted to the trial Data Monitoring Committee providing a narrative description of the events surrounding the normothermic machine perfusion of a liver in which a device error led to the organ being discarded.
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Nasralla, D., Coussios, C.C., Mergental, H.et al. A randomized trial of normothermic preservation in liver transplantation.Nature557, 50–56 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0047-9
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