University of Wisconsin vs normal saline solutions for preservation of blood vessels of brain dead donors: A histopathological study

OBJECTIVE: To compare the cellular changes of harvested arteries which were preserved in normal saline (NS) and the standard and routinely used University of Wisconsin (UW) solution. METHODS: This experimental study was conducted on 20 brain dead patients. The femoral and iliac arteries were bilaterally removed and were placed in NS and UW solutions. The vascular change indices including endothelial detachment (ED), medial detachment (MD), and internal elastic membrane disruption (IEMD) were surveyed for each preserver in the first, 5th, 10th, and 21st day. RESULTS: The mean age of the included patients was 32.28 ± 8.88 years, and there were 13 (65.0%) men and 7 (35.0%) women among the patients. The NS and UW preservation solutions were comparable regarding the indices of vascular changes at first, 5th, and 10th day of the study. Only in 21st day of the study, there was a significant difference between 2 group regarding MD changes (P = .049). CONCLUSION: The results of this in vitro study demonstrated that NS can be used as a worthy preserver for harvested vessels for up to 21 days, especially in resource-limited transplantation centers.