Groundbreaking technique which preserves liver after death of donor could help hundreds get transplants
A new procedure that preserves a liver inside the body of a dead organ donor will lead to hundreds more people getting a transplant, health officials have said.
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The procedure keeps donor livers supplied with oxygen inside a body for around two hours before removal.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) said this allows the liver to recover from damage while it is still in the donor’s body, and also allows time for doctors to run tests to make sure the liver is working well.
The current method involves immediately flushing donated livers with cold fluid and packing them in ice for transport, but this can lead to the liver being damaged.
Nice said that in 2024/25 some 727 livers were donated after circulatory death in the UK – but of these, only 309 were transplanted.
This means that more than half (58%) of donated livers were not used, largely because of concerns about damage caused by interrupted blood flow, Nice said.
Known as an in-situ abdominal normothermic regional perfusion (NRP), this procedure can be used as an option to preserve donor livers during retrieval after the donor’s heart has stopped, according to new draft guidance from Nice.
Meanwhile, separate draft guidance recommends specialist liver preservation machines that preserve donated livers outside the human body using a specially formulated solution to help protect the liver from deteriorating.
Dr Anastasia Chalkidou, health tech programme director at Nice, said: “Too many donated livers are currently going unused, and too many people are dying while waiting for a transplant.
“The evidence shows this procedure works as well as, or better than, existing methods and has a good safety record. This is the first time Nice has evaluated this procedure for any organ, and our draft guidance gives the NHS a clear, evidence-based foundation to make it available consistently and fairly across the country.”
NHS Blood and Transplant estimates that wider use of NRP could enable around 150 additional liver transplants each year.
Vanessa Hebditch, from the British Liver Trust, said: “Too many people with advanced liver disease spend months living with uncertainty while waiting for a suitable donor liver, and sadly every year people die whilst waiting for a life-saving transplant.
“This is encouraging because it supports an innovative approach that could help make more donated livers be viable and available for transplantation.
“We know that every additional transplant represents a life saved and a family given hope for the future. We welcome the opportunity to see innovations like this benefiting more patients across the UK.”