Viability Assessment and Normothermic Machine Perfusion
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Viability Assessment and Normothermic Machine Perfusion: The development of clinical and laboratory techniques to improve assessment of kidneys on ex-vivo normothermic perfusion to enable evaluation of marginal kidneys for transplantation.
IRAS ID
320366
Contact name
Patrick Mark
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Glasgow
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Perfusion of kidneys is not a new technique. There have been attempts to improve kidney transplants by cold machine perfusion since the 1970s, but perfusion at normal body temperature is a relatively new technique. Although the fine tuning of this technique is ongoing in many different centres across the world, this research is interested in how assessment during perfusion can allow a greater range of kidneys to be transplanted safely. As our population gets increasingly older and more frail, as well as an increased demand for kidneys generally, unfortunately, the number of kidneys suitable for transplantation cannot meet this demand.
In response to this problem, there has been a move to transplant kidneys that would not have previously been considered for many reasons. Unfortunately, these organs come with a set of problems including prolonged time to function, higher risk of rejection and loss of the kidney over time.
In recent years, a team from Cambridge have pioneered a novel approach called Normothermic Machine Perfusion (NMP), which affords clinicians the chance to make better informed and reliable decisions about a specific kidney’s chance of success following transplant. NMP involves perfusing a kidney with oxygenated red blood cells prior to implantation. Perfusion by this method induces a pseudo-physiological state, which benefits the kidney in many ways .
This technique may be improved by adding new methods for assessing viability of the kidney. These additions include imaging to assess perfusion of the kidney, laboratory tests to assess for kidney damage and pressure probes to assess the tension of the kidney among others.
Combining these methods to make an objective score may help clinicians make decisions on whether to transplant a kidney, thereby minimising the risk of a failed transplant.REC name
West of Scotland REC 3
REC reference
23/WS/0025
Date of REC Opinion
3 Mar 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion