Cardiac Loading using Passive Left Atrial Pressurization and Passive Afterload for Graft Assessment

Summary

The protocol describes a porcine ex vivo heart perfusion system in which direct loading of the left ventricle may serve as an assessment technique for graft health while simultaneously providing a holistic evaluation of graft function. A discussion of the system design and possible assessment metrics is also provided.

Abstract

Ex vivo machine perfusion or normothermic machine perfusion is a preservation method that has gained great importance in the transplantation field. Despite the immense opportunity for assessment due to the beating state of the heart, current clinical practice depends on limited metabolic trends for graft evaluation. Hemodynamic measurements obtained from left ventricular loading have garnered significant attention within the field due to their potential as objective assessment parameters. In effect, this protocol provides an easy and effective manner of incorporating loading capabilities to established Langendorff perfusion systems through the simple addition of an extra reservoir. Furthermore, it demonstrates the feasibility of employing passive left atrial pressurization for loading, an approach that, to our knowledge, has not been previously demonstrated. This approach is complemented by a passive Windkessel base afterload, which acts as a compliance chamber to maximize myocardial perfusion during diastole. Lastly, it highlights the capability of capturing functional metrics during cardiac loading, including left ventricular pulse pressure, contractility, and relaxation, to uncover deficiencies in cardiac graft function after extended periods of preservation times (˃6 h).

Introduction

Orthotopic heart transplantation is the current gold standard of care for end-stage heart failure¹. Unfortunately, the field is significantly limited by a severe donor shortage crisis, resulting in only 2,000 heart transplants being performed each year when over 20,000 people would benefit from the lifesaving procedure². This organ shortage is expected to worsen as the prevalence of heart failure in the United States alone is projected to surpass 8 million individuals by 2030³. Steady increases in waitlist survival times - as a result of improved medical management, advances in mechanical circulat....

Protocol

This study was conducted in accordance with the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), Massachusetts General Hospital, and Jove's animal guidelines. Hearts (170 - 250 g) were harvested from Yorkshire pigs (30 - 35 kg, age 3-4 months, mixed sex) using a model of donation after brain death and perfused retrogradely (Langendorff) for 6 h prior to loading. All grafts were exposed to a cold ischemia time of approximately 1h during instrumentation.

1. System design

Discussion

Normothermic machine perfusion is a powerful modality for organ preservation and assessment that has greatly impacted the field of cardiac transplantation by expanding the donor pool of adult hearts³⁶. This expansion is the result of the ability to currently utilize a small pool of hearts previously considered unsuitable for transplantation. Normothermic machine perfusion preserves cardiac grafts in a beating state, offering the opportunity for both functional and metabolic assessment. However, de.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
4- way Stopcock	Smiths Medical	MX9341L
4-0 Prolene sutures	Ethicon	8711
5-0 Suture	Fine Scientific Tools	18020-50
Aortic Connector	VentriFLO Inc		Custom Made
Aortic root cannula	Medtronic Inc	10012
Bovine Serum Albumin	Sigma	A7906
Calcium Chloride	Sigma	C7902
Cell Saver	Medtronic Inc	ATLG
Cell Saver cartridges	Medtronic Inc	ATLS00
Dextran	Sigma	31389
EKG epicardial leads	VentriFLO Inc		Custom Made
Equipment stand and brackets	VentriFLO Inc		Custom Made
External Pace maker	Medtronic Inc	5392
Falcon High Clarity 50mL conical tubes	Fisher Scientific	14-432-22
Flow Probes	TranSonic Sytems inc	1828
Heparin sodium Injection	Medplus	G-0409-2720-0409-2721
Hollow fiber oxygenator and Venous  Resevior	Medtronic Inc	BBP241	Affinity Pixie, 1L
HTP 1500  Heat Therapy Pump	HTP	6826619
Insulin	Humulin R		MGH Pharmacy
Iworx Data Acquisition System	Iworx	IX-RA-834
Krebs-Henseleit Buffer	Sigma	K3753
Leukocyte Filter	Haemonetics	SB1E
Organ Chamber	VentriFLO Inc		Custom Made
Pacing Wires Biopolar	Medtronic Inc	6495
Penicillin-Streptomycin	ThermoFisher Scientific	15140122
Pressure Trasnducers	Iworx	BP100
Pulsatile Pump	VentriFLO Inc	2100-0270
PVC Tubing	Medtronic Inc	HY10Z49R9
Right Angle Metal Tip Cannula 20F	Medtronic Inc	67318
Sodium Bicarobonate	Sigma	5761
Standard PHD ULTRA CP Syringe Pump	Harvard Aparatus	88-3015
Tourniquet kit 7in	Medtronic Inc	79006
Transonic Flow box	TranSonic Sytems Inc	T402
Venous Resevior	Medtronic Inc	CB841	Affinity Fusion, 4L
WIndKessel Bag	VentriFLO Inc		Custom Made
Y adapter	Medtronic Inc	10005