A new disposable perfusion machine, nuclear magnetic resonance compatible, to test the marginal organs and the kidneys from non-heart-beating donors before transplantation

This article is the first report about our new hypothermic pulsatile perfusion machine (HUG's HPP-machine) for kidney perfusion. This machine will be used for (31)P NMR spectroscopy. The aim is to obtain scores of viability of marginal kidneys and those from non-heart-beating donors (NHBD) before transplantation using HPP as it has been demonstrated necessary in these situations. The most predictable test is the ratio of phosphomonoester on inorganic phosphorus (PME/Pi) that can be obtained from (31)P spectroscopy. The machine has been built to allow perfusion of kidneys in the range of that performed with the traditional Belzer, Mox-Waters machines and others, but compatible with the magnetic fields of the MRI apparatus used for (31)P NMR spectroscopy. In this publication, the technical aspects of this new aerobic HPP-machine compatible with MRI is presented.