The super-rapid technique in Maastricht category III donors: has it developed enough for marginal liver grafts from donors after cardiac death?

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Follow-up data from donors following cardiac death (DCD) liver transplants suggest an increased risk of graft failure and morbid complications, and the risk increased with grafts from marginal donors. Donor warm ischaemia (dWIT) stands out as the common aetiological factor. Aim of this review is to examine if super-rapid technique had developed sufficiently enough to improve the effects of dWIT that had been started since treatment withdrawal in category III DCD marginal donors. RECENT
FINDINGS: The recent findings suggest limited evolvement, but these have not been contributed to reduce dWIT significantly. Evidence suggests hypoperfusion and circulatory stop occurring well before electrophysical inactivity; hence, dWIT is probably underestimated. Time spent since cardiac death to aortic cross clamp is directly linked to ischaemic complications; limited modifications to surgical technique alone have failed to make an impact on these complications. Marginal grafts generally perform worse, increasing the overall financial cost of patient management.
SUMMARY: Irrespective of the speed at which aortic perfusion is instituted, the technical developments have not been able to improve outcomes/utility of marginal DCD grafts. The future of the DCD programmes should explore the means of reviving organ damage incurred during dWIT that are incorporated to the super-rapid technique of organ harvest.