In recent years, Italy has seen approximately 1,400 liver transplants performed annually. About a quarter of these transplant procedures are performed with machine perfusion. In 2023 nearly 400 liver transplants will be performed using XVIVO’s Liver Assist. The technology improves patient outcomes after transplantation and allows for assessment of donor livers that historically would not have been accepted for transplantation, thereby increasing the utilization of donated organs. XVIVO's Liver Assist is being used for various types of donor livers, including those from donors who have deceased due to  circulatory death (DCD), those from elderly and overweight donors, but the technology also provides the opportunity of safely splitting a liver for transplantation into two patients.

The service concept offered by XVIVO in Italy includes management of the perfusion process using the technical expertise of a perfusionist. This has proven to be highly successful and the business model has shown consistent growth year after year.

In Italy three esteemed transplant surgeons have played a critical role in the implementation and development of liver machine perfusion.

"In 2015, at Niguarda Hospital, we were the first hospital to start transplanting organs from circulatory deceased donors with this technology to evaluate the functionality of the organs after 20 minutes of a flat electrocardiogram, which is mandatory in our country," says Prof. Luciano De Carlis, Director S.C. General and Transplant Surgery at Niguarda Hospital and President of the Italian Organ Transplant Society (SITO), Milan, Italy. “Over time we have been able to demonstrate that by using this technology we have improved both organ quality and the transplant process.”

Dr. Davide Ghinolfi, Acting Director of the Liver Surgery and Liver Transplant Unit, Pisan University Hospital, Pisa, Italy, adds: “Perfusion devices allow the use of livers with broad criteria, such as elderly donors, fatty livers, and other situations that, in the past, led to the discarding of organs. Today, we are able to recover many organs with this technology. For instance, in Pisa, a liver from a donor over one hundred years old was successfully transplanted to a patient who remains in good health after more than a year.”

These are some of the aspects that have allowed Italy to become the world's most frequent user of the Liver Assist technology. When reflecting on the future, Prof. Renato Romagnoli, Director of S.C. General Surgery 2U at the Liver Transplant Center, P.O. Molinette, Turin, Italy, states: “This technology has unexplored limits because the experiences gained from research so far have shown that it is possible to maintain, or even treat the liver for not just a few days, but even weeks. Soon, we will have the ability to use perfusion to regenerate, modify, or repair these organs, with the aim of transplanting more organs and optimizing the results.”

“Italy is today XVIVO’s largest liver perfusion market. Since the introduction in 2014, we have witnessed a steady utilization increase, year on year, with an acceleration in recent years. Our business model has been highly appreciated by customers and we are now looking into bringing it to other countries too. Today, approximately 25-30% of all transplanted livers in Italy have been perfused with XVIVO's technology, and I am confident that in the next two years, that number will reach 50%. We believe in an extended life of organs and that nobody should die waiting for a new organ,” says Christoffer Rosenblad, CEO of XVIVO.
 
December 22, 2023
Gothenburg
Christoffer Rosenblad, CEO
XVIVO Perfusion AB (publ)