A Sensor for Measuring Vital Parameters During Ex Situ Liver Perfusion

Machine perfusion (MP) allows for a donor organ to preserve graft viability and function ex situ. This strategy allows surgeons to assess a donated organ isolated from the host body. However, assessment for transplantation is a challenging task, particularly for organs subjected to significant damage including grafts donated after circulatory death (DCD). As systematic assessment approaches are lacking, most DCD grafts in liver transplantation are discarded due to uncertainty in their viability resulting in the transplantation of only 24% of the donated DCD livers in the US and UK [1]. Thus, identifying and measuring predictive biomarkers in real-time during MP could significantly increase the utilization of DCD organs suitable for transplant, reducing waitlist mortality.