Advances in Reducing Liver Allograft Injury

Authors

  • Stephen O’Neill MRC Centre for Inflammation Research, Tissue Injury and Repair Group, University of Edinburgh, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, 49 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh EH16 4SA
  • Ewen M Harrison MRC Centre for Inflammation Research, Tissue Injury and Repair Group, University of Edinburgh, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, 49 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh EH16 4SA.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5530/BEMS.1.2.4

Keywords:

Liver transplantation, Ischemia-reperfusion injury, Organ conditioning

Abstract

The shortage of organs for liver transplantation has led to the use of more extended criteria donor grafts and grafts recovered from Donation after circulatory death (DCD) donors. The former are more vulnerable to Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) because of pre-existing pathology and the latter experience significant warm ischemia during organ recovery. Reducing the impact of IRI in extended criteria and DCD grafts is key to better outcomes in liver transplantation and could lead to expansion of the donor pool by increasing the utility of suboptimal organs. At each stage of the transplantation procedure there is opportunity to reduce the impact of IRI. This review discusses the underlying pathophysiology of IRI as it occurs in liver transplantation and summarises the advances that have been made in reducing human liver allograft injury through preconditioning, ex vivo conditioning and post-conditioning.

Ischemic preconditioning used prior to organ retrieval

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Published

2015-07-01

How to Cite

O’Neill, S. ., & M Harrison, E. (2015). Advances in Reducing Liver Allograft Injury. Biology, Engineering, Medicine and Science Reports, 1(2), 41–45. https://doi.org/10.5530/BEMS.1.2.4

Issue

Section

Original Research Article