Machine Perfusion in Transplantation: From Organ Preservation to Assessment, Repair, and Therapeutic Intervention

Machine perfusion has emerged as one of the most important advances in contemporary transplantation, with the potential to fundamentally change how donor organs are preserved, assessed, selected, and treated prior to implantation. While early applications focused primarily on improving preservation compared with static cold storage, increasingly sophisticated perfusion platforms now allow clinicians and investigators to continuously evaluate organ function, extend preservation time, recondition marginal organs, and potentially deliver targeted therapies before transplantation.This Research Topic will highlight advances in machine perfusion across solid-organ transplantation, including kidney, liver, heart, lung, pancreas, and multivisceral transplantation. Relevant submissions may address perfusion strategies, as emerging technologies that integrate physiologic monitoring, biomarkers, imaging, artificial intelligence, or other approaches to improve organ assessment. We invite contributions on topics including, but not limited to:• Development and validation of objective viability criteria• Prevention and treatment of ischemia-reperfusion injury• Optimization of perfusion protocols and perfusate composition• The relationship between perfusion parameters and short- and long-term transplant outcomes• Machine perfusion as a therapeutic platform, including pharmacologic treatment, cellular or gene-based therapies, and organ repair and regeneration• Other strategies designed to improve donor-organ quality prior to transplantation• Clinical implementation, logistics, and resource utilization• Cost-effectiveness and device development• Multicenter experience and clinical trials• Barriers to broader adoptionBy bringing together basic, translational, and clinical perspectives, this Research Topic aims to define the evolving role of machine perfusion not simply as a preservation technique, but as an integrated platform for organ evaluation, optimization, and treatment. Topic editors: Samuel Sultan, Angelica Perez-Gutierrez Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85662/machine-perfusion-in-transplantation-from-organ-preservation-to-assessment-repair-and-therapeutic-intervention