Evaluation of Preimplantation Portal Vein and Hepatic Artery Flushing With Tacrolimus

Early allograft liver dysfunction remains a significant complication of cadaveric liver transplantation with resource consuming and costly treatment, increased risk of multiorgan failure and 6-months mortality. Ischemic reperfusion injury (IRI) is a main reason for early allograft liver dysfunction. Inflammatory response to brain death in donor can precipitate the extent of dysfunction after reperfusion in recipient (1). Clear inflammatory pathways in response to IRI have been reported to be associated with early allograft liver dysfunction (2,3). It was shown that ex vivo intraportal tacrolimus perfusion suppressed inflammation and immune response in the transplanted liver on a genome-wide basis (4). We hypothesize that Tacrolimus added to HTK solution given through intraportal and intraarterial back-table infusion is capable of reducing the degree of early allograft liver dysfunction, as assessed by incidence of postreperfusion hyperfibrinolysis, postoperative levels of AST,ALT, during 1-7 postoperative days as well as serum and histochemical markers of liver injury and inflammation compared to no intraportal and intraarterial back-table infusion.