Livers can now survive 24 hours outside the body

A MACHINE which triples the time livers can survive outside the body – and promises to halve the transplant waiting list – has been officially approved for use by the NHS.

Hundreds more patients with advanced liver disease – Britain’s fifth biggest killer – have hope of a successful transplant after the technique was approved by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice).

Currently livers intended for transplant typically survive for only about eight to 10 hours on ice. It means not all organs make it to their intended recipient on time and operations can be performed in haste.

Additionally, the standard ice preservation method gives surgeons little clue as to whether the donated organ will work in its new body.

By contrast, the new technique, called ex-vivo machine perfusion, is capable of preserving a liver for up to 24 hours and gives doctors the opportunity to check for damage – and even repair it – before transplant.

Instead of freezing the liver, the donor’s blood is washed out and the organ is placed in the perfusion machine where it is pumped with blood and oxygen so it functions nearly normally.

Keeping the liver between zero and four degrees means it requires less oxygen to stay alive.

Transplant is the ultimate treatment for people with end-stage liver disease, which kills around 11,000 people in England each year and has increased by 25 per cent in the last decade, thanks largely to poor diet.

Last year there were approximately 360 patients waiting for a liver transplant, although the list numbvered as many as 611 people in 2015.

Professor Darius Mirza, who is leading a trial of the machine at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, said the new technique could boost the roughly 1,000 liver transplants which take place each year by 20 per cent.

“In the 30 years I’ve been involved with transplantation there have been three or four events which have been game changers and I’m certain we are looking at a game changer that will change the way we practice organ storage and transplantation,” he said.

“Eight hours versus 24 is a big difference. The key thing is we get information from the liver before it goes in the patient. We’ve never had that before.”

Today’s Nice guidance found that there were no major safety concerns with the new procedure.

However, it leaves it up to NHS Commissioners to decide in which cases it should be funded.

Vanessa Hebditch, director of policy at the British Liver Trust, said: “Every year hundreds of people with advanced liver disease die whilst waiting for a transplant. This new device offers real hope as it may improve transplant outcomes.”