From Patients to Providers: Assessing Impact of Normothermic Machine Perfusion on Liver Transplant Practices in the US.

Background: Normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) of livers allows for the expansion of the donor pool and minimization of posttransplant complications. Results to date have focused on both donor and recipient outcomes, but there remains potential for NMP to also impact transplant providers.

Study Design: Using United Network for Organ Sharing Standard Transplant Analysis file data, adult deceased donors who underwent transplantation between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2022, were identified. Transplanted livers were divided by preservation methods (static cold storage [SCS] and NMP) and case time (day-reperfusion 8 am to 6 pm ). Patient factors, transplant characteristics, and short-term outcomes were analyzed between Mahalanobis-metric-matched groups.

Results: NMP livers represented 742 (1.4%) of 52,132 transplants. NMP donors were more marginal with higher Donor Risk Index scores (1.78 ± 0.50 NMP vs 1.49 ± 0.38 SCS, p < 0.001) and donation after cardiac death frequency (36.9% vs 8.4%, p < 0.001). NMP recipients more often had model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) exception status (29.9% vs 23.4%, p < 0.001), lower laboratory MELD scores (20.7 ± 9.7 vs 24.3 ± 10.9, p < 0.001), and had been waitlisted longer (111.5 [21.0 to 307.0] vs 60.0 [9.0 to 245.0] days, p < 0.001). One-year graft survival (90.2% vs 91.6%, p = 0.505) was similar between groups, whereas length of stay was lower for NMP recipients (8.0 [6.0 to 14.0] vs 10.0 [6.0 to 16.0], p = 0.017) after adjusting for confounders. Notably, peak case volume occurred at 11 am with NMP livers (vs 9 pm with SCS). Overall, a higher proportion of transplants was performed during daytime hours with NMP (51.5% vs 43.0%, p < 0.001).

Conclusions: NMP results in increased use of marginal allografts, which facilitated transplantation in lower laboratory MELD recipients who have been waitlisted longer and often have exception points. Importantly, NMP also appeared to shift peak caseloads from nighttime to daytime, which may have significant effects on the quality of life for the entire liver transplant team.