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Pilot Study to Assess Safety and Feasibility of Normothermic Machine Preservation In Human Liver Transplantation

A Phase I Pilot Study to Assess Safety and Feasibility of Normothermic Machine Preservation In Human Liver Transplantation

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT02515708
Enrollment
25
Registered
2015-08-05
Start date
2016-05-16
Completion date
2020-06-09
Last updated
2020-10-19

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Liver Transplantation

Brief summary

Normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) preservation is a promising method to decrease the complication of marginal donor livers compared to cold storage (CS). The aim of this project is to assess safety and feasibility of NMP in human liver transplantation. This will be a single center prospective cohort pilot study. Thirty-two livers with acceptable quality for transplantation will be preserved with NMP in 2-18 hours and transplanted. The follow-up period will be 6 months post-transplantation. The outcome will be compared to 100 historical patients transplanted in our program in the past 5 years (liver preserved using CS) with matched characteristics on age, Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score, preservation time, etc.

Detailed description

The shortage of donor organs leads to the use of marginal donors including donors after cardiac death. Normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) preservation is a promising method to decrease their high risk of complication compared to the standard cold storage (CS). The aim of this project is to assess safety and feasibility of NMP in human liver transplantation. This will be a single center prospective cohort pilot study. Thirty-two livers that have acceptable quality for transplantation will be preserved with NMP in 2-18 hours after cross clamp and cold flush. The liver grafts at NMP will be at physiological temperature and have oxygen and nutrient supply with continuous perfusion. The transplantation and post-transplant care will follow the standard of care. The follow-up period is 12 months after transplantation. The primary end point will be the rate of post-transplant Early Allograft Dysfunction (EAD), while the secondary end points will be: primary non function (PNF) rate, 1 and 6 months patient and graft survival, peak liver function tests in the first 7 days after transplantation, intraoperative hepatic arterial and portal flow measurement, rate and magnitude of post-reperfusion syndrome, surgical outcomes (operative time, transfusion requirement etc.), rate of post-transplant kidney failure, assessment of histological ischemia reperfusion (liver and bile duct), rate of vascular complications, rate of biliary complications, hospital and ICU length of stay, rejection rate, infection rate, the ability to predict function based on on-pump viability markers, and the incidence of adverse effect (AE). The outcome will be compared to a control group of 100 historical patients (matched with a 1:4 ratio) transplanted in our program in the past 10 years (liver preserved using CS). Control subjects will be matched using donor and recipient age, Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score, cold ischemia time, donor risk index and presence of steatosis.

Interventions

DEVICENormothermic Liver perfusion Device

The liver grafts will be preserved at physiological temperature and have continuous perfusion with oxygen and nutrient supply in the ex vivo organ preservation phase.

Sponsors

Cristiano Quintini
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 75 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Patients undergoing primary liver transplantation * Age 18-75 years at the time of transplantation * Willingness and ability to comply with the study procedures * Signed Informed Consent Form * For patients with hepatocellular carcinoma as indication for Orthoptic Liver Transplantation (OLT), tumor must be within Milan Criteria or down-staged to Milan Criteria.

Exclusion criteria

Recipient

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
the rate of Early Allograft Dysfunction post-transplantation in Normothermically Machine Perfused (NMP) livers7 days post-transplantationThe presence of at least one of the following at post-transplant 7 days: serum bilirubin \>= 10 mg/dL, international normalized ratio (INF) \>= 1.6; and/or aspartate aminotransferase (AST) \> 2000 U/L at any time in the first 7 post-transplant days (POD)

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
graft survival6 months post-transplantationThe allograft will be considered lost if a patient has a liver re-transplant or in the event of patient death.
peak liver function tests in the first 7 days post-transplantationin the first 7 days post-transplantation
intraoperative flow measurementintraoperativeFlows will be measured with a transit time flowmeter (VeriQ system, MediStim A/S, Oslo, Norway) after graft reperfusion. The following parameters will be recorded as per our standard practice during liver transplantation: portal venous flow, hepatic artery flow, and hepatic artery flow after temporary portal vein occlusion.
post reperfusion syndrome (composite)in the first 7 days post-transplantationrate and magnitude
surgical outcomes (composite)intraoperativeoperative time, transfusion requirement
rate of post-transplant kidney failurein the 1, 3, 6 ,9 months post-transplantation
histology of liver parenchymaOn the day of transplantation
primary non-function ratein the first 10 days post-transplantation
biliary complications rate6 months post-transplantation
hospital and ICU length of stay (composite)6 months post-transplantation
rejection rate6 months post-transplantation
opportunistic viral infection rate6 months post-transplantation
patient survival6 months post-transplantation
histology of bile ductOn the day of transplantation
vascular complications ratein the first day post-transplantation

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026