Motivation: Up to 40% of human kidneys are discarded before transplantation. Reducing the amount of discarded human kidneys will require more objective data. Goal(s): We aim to provide quantitative MRI data about ex vivo kidneys. The scope of this particle aim is to evaluate the use of phosphorous spectroscopy. Approach: 10 ex vivo kidneys were evaluated using 31P MRS before and after 6 hours of normothermic perfusion (NMP) in a novel MRI safe perfusion chamber. Results: We evaluated 2 biomarkers for early and late stage prognosis. Within 6 hours of NMP, all 10 kidneys surpassed the early stage viability threshold. Impact: Data collected here, combined with a multitude of quantitative MRI data collected during normothermic perfusion, will provide objective data of kidney health in an isolated metabolic state. These data will guide surgeons on transplant decisions.
Ooms et al. (Tue,) studied this question.