Exclusively aortic cold flushing for liver procurement from hemodynamically stable donors. An experimental study in the pig

Liver cooling before grafting is usually achieved by aortic plus portal flushing; exclusively aortic flushing is reserved to hemodynamically unstable or non heart-beating donors. We have compared the effects of "aortic plus portal" (8 cases) and "aortic" (8 cases) cold flushing on the early function of pig liver grafts from hemodynamically stable donors. The time for liver removal (mean +/- standard deviation) was 30.4 +/- 7.1 min. in the "aortic plus portal" and 19.7 +/- 3.3 min. in the "aortic" group (p < 0.01). All the recipients survived for at least 72 hrs; only those of the "aortic plus portal" group showed some degree of primary liver dysfunction; recipient serum aspartate transaminase (AST) was significantly higher in the "aortic plus portal" than the "aortic" group. Since aortic flushing allowed for shorter operation times and was better tolerated than and at least as effective as aortic plus portal flushing, it can be proposed for routine liver procurement even from hemodynamically stable donors