Abstract

Despite a critical shortage of viable donor livers for transplantation, only a fraction of the available organs are used. Donor organ defects, which in the majority of cases are caused by extensive exposure to ischemia, cannot be reversed by static cold storage, the current gold standard of organ preservation. In this review, the role of machine perfusion (MP) in the recovery of non-transplantable ischemic donor organs is discussed. Though still in the experimental phase, various models of MP have consistently demonstrated that ischemic donor organs can be recovered to a transplantable state through continuous perfusion. MP can also provide dynamic quantitative assessments of the extent of ischemia, in addition to predicting the likelihood of organ recovery. Continued endeavors to translate MP into clinical use and eventually incorporate it into routine donor organ care will have a significant impact on the quality and availability of transplantable donor organs.