Liver preservation by single passage hypothermic "squirt" perfusion.

A single passage, hypothermic, intermittent squirt perfusion of the pig's liver is described which has allowed preservation of porcine livers for up to 17 hours. After preservation, orthotopically allografted livers can maintain recipient animals in good health. If this technique can be applied to clinical liver transplantation it should be possible to move livers from one hospital to another in the same way that kidneys are transported. This should increase the availability of donor livers for transplantation and avoid the serious disadvantages of moving the sick recipient just before the operation to the hospital where the donor has died.