UAB is expanding access to kidney transplants by adopting normothermic machine perfusion (NMP), an advanced organ preservation technology shown to improve organ utilization and early transplant outcomes.
Donor kidneys are typically preserved using cold storage, which involves flushing the kidney to remove donor blood, cooling it in a preservation solution, and storing it on ice while arrangements are made for transplantation. Using this method, donor kidneys are generally viable for 24 to 36 hours.
Normothermic machine perfusion offers a more physiological approach by maintaining organs at near body temperature in an oxygen and nutrient-rich environment. During NMP, a mechanical pump circulates a warm solution, designed to deliver oxygen and nutrients through the kidney. This allows the transplant team to observe kidney function directly and assess clinical markers such as urine production prior to transplant.
For patients, the use of NMP may mean receiving a kidney transplant sooner — often while they are healthier — and having greater confidence in early graft function.
By improving the ability to safely assess and preserve donor organs, NMP helps make more kidneys suitable for transplantation. This can shorten wait times, reduce the amount of time patients spend on dialysis, and it increases the likelihood that the kidney functions immediately after surgery, reducing the risk of early complications.
NMP allows transplant teams to evaluate kidney function in real time prior to transplantation. While on NMP, clinicians can monitor blood flow, kidney resistance and metabolic activity and in many cases observe urine production.
Findings from an analysis of the first 100 kidney transplants in the United States utilizing NMP compared outcomes with those of similarly matched kidneys preserved using traditional methods. NMP was shown to keep donor kidneys healthy before surgery and reduced the risk of the kidney’s failing to work right away by 40 percent.