title: Experimental lung transplantation: impact of preservation solution and route of delivery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Optimal preservation of allograft integrity is essential to reduce post-ischemic organ dysfunction after lung transplantation. Retrograde organ preservation leads to homogeneous intrapulmonary distribution and eliminates intravascular thrombi. So far, no comparative studies exist with regard to preservation quality following retrograde preservation with Perfadex and Celsior after extended cold-ischemia intervals.
  
  
  METHODS
  In an in vivo pig model, 5 lungs each were preserved for 27 hours using antegrade or retrograde perfusion techniques with Celsior (Ce(ant)/CE(ret)) and Perfadex (PER(ant)/PER(ret)). After left lung transplantation and contralateral lung exclusion, hemodynamics, oxygenation and dynamic compliance were monitored for 6 hours and compared with sham-operated controls. Pulmonary edema was determined stereologically. Statistics consisted of analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mortality of all Celsior-protected lungs was 100% due to severe reperfusion injury with profound lung edema. In contrast, organ preservation with PER(ant) led to sufficient graft function without mortality. Preservation quality after retrograde administration of Perfadex resulted in optimized oxygenation capacity compared with PER(ant) (p = 0.046). Furthermore, intra-alveolar edema was reduced and generally comparable with sham controls. In general, retrograde preservation led to continuous washout of small blood and fibrin clots from the pulmonary capillary system.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Perfadex solution provided sufficient lung preservation for 27 hours of cold ischemia, and its retrograde application led to significant functional and histologic improvement compared with antegrade perfusion. In contrast, preservation with Celsior solution resulted in lethal post-ischemic outcome, regardless of the route of administration, and therefore must be considered unsuitable for extended lung procurement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena, Germany. th.wittwer-md@t-online.de
authors.forename: Thorsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wittwer
authors.forename: Ulrich F W
authors.initials: UF
authors.lastname: Franke
authors.forename: Antonia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fehrenbach
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ochs
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sandhaus
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schuette
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Richter
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dreyer
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Knudsen
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schubert
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Richter
authors.forename: Thorsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wahlers
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D005260:Female; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000473:pathology*; D006085:Graft Survival; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D016040:Lung Transplantation / Q000379:methods* / Q000401:mortality; D009926:Organ Preservation / Q000379:methods*; D019188:Organ Preservation Solutions / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011336:Probability; D011897:Random Allocation; D012016:Reference Values; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D015996:Survival Rate; D034421:Sus scrofa
chemical_list: D019188:Organ Preservation Solutions