Lung recovery utilizing thoracoabdominal normothermic regional perfusion during donation after circulatory death: The Colorado experience.

Objective: Donation after circulatory death (DCD) procurement and transplantation after thoracoabdominal normothermic regional perfusion (TA-NRP) remains a novel technique to improve cardiac and hepatic allograft preservation but may be complicated by lung allograft pulmonary edema. We present a single-center series on early implementation of a lung-protective protocol with strategies to mitigate posttransplant pulmonary edema in DCD lung allografts after TA-NRP procurement. Methods: Data from all lung transplantations performed using a TA-NRP procurement strategy from October 2022 to April 2023 are presented. Donor management consisted of key factors to reduce lung allograft pulmonary edema: aggressive predonation and early posttransplant diuresis, complete venous drainage at TA-NRP initiation, and early pulmonary artery venting upon initiation of systemic perfusion. Donor and recipient characteristics, procurement characteristics such as TA-NRP intervals, and 30-day postoperative outcomes were assessed. Results: During the study period, 8 lung transplants were performed utilizing TA-NRP procurement from DCD donors. Donor ages ranged from 16 to 39 years and extubation time to declaration of death ranged from 10 to 90 minutes. Time from declaration to TA-NRP initiation was 7 to 17 minutes with TA-NRP perfusion times of 49 to 111 minutes. Median left and right allograft warm ischemia times were 55.5 minutes (interquartile range, 46.5-67.5 minutes) and 41.0 minutes (interquartile range, 39.0-53.0 minutes, respectively, with 2 recipients supported with cardiopulmonary bypass or venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation during implantation. No postoperative extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was required. There were no pulmonary-related deaths; however, 1 patient died from complications of severe necrotizing pancreatitis with a normal functioning allograft. All patients were extubated within 24 hours. Index intensive care unit length of stay ranged from 3 to 11 days with a hospital length of stay of 13 to 37 days. Conclusions: Despite concern regarding quality of DCD lung allografts recovered using the TA-NRP technique, we report initial success using this procurement method. Implementation of strategies to mitigate pulmonary edema can result in acceptable outcomes following lung transplantation. Demonstration of short- and long-term safety and efficacy of this technique will become increasingly important as the use of TA-NRP for thoracic and abdominal allografts in DCD donors expands.

Goal-directed perfusion to reduce acute kidney injury: A randomized trial.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a goal-directed perfusion (GDP) strategy aimed at maintaining oxygen delivery (DO2) at ≥280 mL·min-1·m-2 reduces the incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI). METHODS: This multicenter randomized trial enrolled a total of 350 patients undergoing cardiac surgery in 9 institutions. Patients were randomized to receive either GDP or conventional perfusion. A total of 326 patients completed the study and were analyzed. Patients in the treatment arm were treated with a GDP strategy during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) aimed to maintain DO2 at ≥280 mL·min-1·m-2. The perfusion strategy for patients in the control arm was factored on body surface area and temperature. The primary endpoint was the rate of AKI. Secondary endpoints were intensive care unit length of stay, major morbidity, red blood cell transfusions, and operative mortality. RESULTS: Acute Kidney Injury Network (AKIN) stage 1 was reduced in patients treated with GDP (relative risk [RR], 0.45; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.25-0.83; P = .01). AKIN stage 2-3 did not differ between the 2 study arms (RR, 1.66; 95% CI, 0.46-6.0; P = .528). There were no significant differences in secondary outcomes. In a prespecified analysis of patients with a CPB time between 1 and 3 hours, the differences in favor of the treatment arm were more pronounced, with an RR for AKI of 0.49 (95% CI, 0.27-0.89; P = .017). CONCLUSIONS: A GDP strategy is effective in reducing AKIN stage 1 AKI. Further studies are needed to define perfusion interventions that may reduce more severe levels of renal injury (AKIN stage 2 or 3).

Perfusion Electronic Record Documentation Using Epic Systems Software.

The authors comment on Steffens and Gunser's article describing the University of Wisconsin adoption of the Epic anesthesia record to include perfusion information from the cardiopulmonary bypass patient experience. We highlight the current-day lessons and the valuable quality and safety principles the Wisconsin-Epic model anesthesia-perfusion record provides.

Ex vivo lung perfusion allows successful transplantation of donor lungs from hanging victims.

BACKGROUND: Donor lungs acquired from victims of asphyxiation by hanging are not routinely used for lung transplantation because of the associated lung injury. Ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) is a technique to evaluate marginal donor lungs before transplantation. We report here our experience with the use of EVLP in donor lungs procured from victims of asphyxia by hanging. METHODS: Lungs from 5 donors who became brain dead secondary to hanging were evaluated by EVLP. Donor organs were perfused according to trial protocol. Donor lungs were accepted for transplantation if they maintained a PaO2 greater than or equal to 350 mm Hg, had a clear roentgenogram, and had no significant worsening of physiologic metrics. RESULTS: Perfused organs included single and double lung blocs, and all were perfused without technical incident. Three of the 5 donor organs evaluated met criteria for transplantation after 3 hours of EVLP and were transplanted. Donor organs rejected for transplantation showed either signs of worsening PaO2 or deterioration of physiologic metrics. There were no intraoperative complications in the patients who underwent transplantation, and all were alive at 30 days. CONCLUSIONS: We report here the successful use of EVLP to assess donor lungs acquired from victims of asphyxiation by hanging. The use of EVLP in this particular group of donors has the potential to expand the available donor pool. We demonstrate that EVLP is a viable option for evaluating the function of lung allografts before transplantation and would recommend that all donor lungs obtained from hanging victims undergo EVLP to assess their suitability for transplantation.

Cytokine expression profile in human lungs undergoing normothermic ex-vivo lung perfusion.

BACKGROUND: A donor lung shortage prevents patients from receiving life-saving transplants. Ex-vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) is a viable means of expanding the donor pool by evaluating and potentially improving donor lung function. The metabolic and inflammatory effects of EVLP on human lung tissue are currently unknown. We sought to establish representative cytokine expression in human donor lungs meeting acceptable lung transplant criteria after prolonged normothermic EVLP. METHODS: Seven single human lungs not meeting traditional transplantation criteria for various reasons underwent normothermic EVLP. Lungs were perfused with deoxygenated colloid, rewarmed, and ventilated per standard protocol. Lung function was evaluated every hour. Biopsies were taken at 1, 6, and 12 hours. Inflammatory cytokines were quantitatively measured using a human cytokine magnetic bead-based multiplex assay. RESULTS: All lungs met traditional transplant criteria after EVLP. The partial pressure of arterial oxygen and physiologic lung function significantly improved (p<0.05). No pulmonary edema was formed, and histology demonstrated no evidence of acute lung injury. Interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 were upregulated, while granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor was downregulated during EVLP (p<0.05). IL-1ß, IL-4, IL-7, IL-12, interferon-γ, macrophage inflammatory protein-1ß, and tumor necrosis factor-α were detectable and unchanged. CONCLUSIONS: Ex-vivo lung perfusion demonstrates the ability to improve oxygenation and physiologic lung function in donor lungs unacceptable for transplantation without injury to the lung. We establish here a cytokine expression profile in human lungs undergoing normothermic EVLP. These data can be used in the future to explore novel targeted therapies for ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Designing an integrated extracorporeal therapy service quality system.

Reorganization in clinical operations of a national service provider organization, Fresenius Medical Care Extracorporeal Alliance (FMC-EA), provided the opportunity to overhaul and integrate quality systems. Under the new structure, the management of acute dialysis, apheresis, open-heart perfusion, and intraoperative autotransfusion services were combined into an integrated service portfolio supported by a multidisciplinary team of nurses, perfusionists, and technicians. This communication is intended to be a concise review of the literature that establishes the foundation for the new quality system as well as a discussion of the five clinical policies and clinical procedure guidelines that govern clinical behavior in mobile, point of care, acute extracorporeal therapy services. The clinical policy standards are based on recognized essentials and guidelines published by professional organizations, federal and state government agencies, and accreditation groups. The standards list the essential behaviors that clinicians should exhibit during the provision of extracorporeal therapy procedures such as acute therapeutic apheresis. Compliance with the redesigned procedure guidelines and policies will provide the clinical practice platform for continuous quality improvement (CQI) activities, benchmarking, and self-improvement. These practices can lead to improvements in the quality of care, a decrease in medical errors, and a reduction in overall health care costs.