Bright Ideas Grants Project Title

Perth Protocol: Perfusion Parameters, Viability Framework Development and Outcomes in Sequential HOPE-COR-NMP with tPA for Liver Transplantation

Dr Nara Mukerji is a Surgical Registrar within the WA Liver & Kidney Transplant Unit, with an interest in liver transplantation and clinical research. She has recently completed a Master of Surgery with First Class Honours, with her thesis examining early liver transplant outcomes following machine perfusion using the novel PERTH Protocol. Driven by a desire to advance surgical practice, she is particularly interested in translating clinical challenges into opportunities for innovation to improve patient care. Her long-term ambition is to pursue a career in academic surgery, combining her clinical interests in hepatobiliary and transplant surgery with ongoing research.

 

Liver transplantation is a life-saving treatment for patients with advanced liver disease, but the shortage of suitable donor organs remains a major challenge. Some donated livers cannot be used because of concerns about how well they will function after transplantation.

 

Machine perfusion is an innovative technology that allows donor livers to be resuscitated and assessed outside the body prior to transplantation. Our team has developed the PERTH Protocol, a novel approach combining multiple perfusion techniques to harness the distinct advantages of each, with the aim of improving donor liver preservation and function.

 

This stage of our work aims to develop a framework for the assessment of donor liver viability using information collected during machine perfusion. Ultimately, this research will contribute to supporting safer transplant decisions, increasing the number of donor livers available for transplantation and give more patients access to life-saving surgery.