REVIEW

Transpl. Int.

Back in Circulation: A review of the implementation of thoracoabdominal normothermic regional perfusion in donation after circulatory death in lung transplantation

  • 1. Wallenberg Centre for Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

  • 2. NYU Langone Health, New York, United States

  • 3. Skanes universitetssjukhus Lund, Lund, Sweden

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Abstract

In the face of a growing mismatch between candidates awaiting transplantation and the supply of conventional donor organs, attention has shifted toward novel methods to increase the donor pool, including the use of donation after circulatory death (DCD) and the refinement of procurement techniques that safeguard graft quality. Thoracoabdominal normothermic regional perfusion (TA-NRP) has emerged as a new strategy, leveraging extracorporeal support to curtail warm-ischemic injury while permitting in-situ functional assessment. This review covers the rationale behind the use of TA-NRP, while outlining its use during procurement and the current body of evidence that gathered on its implementation in lung transplantation specifically.

Summary

Keywords

DCD, Donation after Circulatory death, lung transplantation, TA-NRP, thoracoabdominal normothermic regional perfusion

Received

14 July 2025

Accepted

23 March 2026

Copyright

© 2026 Niroomand, Chang and Lindstedt. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Sandra Lindstedt

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All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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