Eight Years of Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation in Liver Transplantation: Our Experience

Abstract

Liver grafts from donors after cardiac death (DCD) involve a risk of failure owing to warm ischemia, among other factors. To minimize this important issue, new systems like normothermic regional perfusion have arisen. We report an observational and unicentric study focused on the results of liver transplantation after DCD, performing normothermic regional perfusion using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. In the period between 2011 and 2018, 33 recipients underwent the procedure, 9 from Maastricht II DCD donor liver transplantation (LT) and 24 from Maastricht III DCD donors. The median recipient survival rose to 67 ± 9 months and 41 ± 7 months, respectively. Only 1 patient suffered from ischemic cholangiopathy needing retransplantation. Therefore, according to our experience, liver grafts from DCD using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation are suitable for LT.