EFFECT OF MACHINE PERFUSION PRESERVATION ON DELAYED GRAFT FUNCTION INNON-HEART-BEATING DONOR KIDNEYS EARLY RESULTS

The functioning of non-heart-beating (NHB) donor kidneys upon transpla ntation is often delayed. To evaluate the effect of preservation by ma chine perfusion (MP) on early post-transplant function, 37 NHB donor k idneys were compared to 74 matched heart-beating (HE) donor kidneys pr eserved by cold storage (CS). The NHB donor kidneys were subject to 49 +/-34 min of warm ischemia. Delayed function (DF) and primary nonfunct ion (PNF) rates were significantly higher for NHB than for HE donor ki dneys (49 % and 19 % vs 34 % and 7 %, respectively). Consequently, ren al function was impaired but recovered within 6 months. MP could not e liminate the differences in DF rate between NHB and HE donor kidneys. However, NHB donor kidneys preserved by MP showed less DF than that re ported in kidneys preserved by CS. This suggests that MP has a benefic ial effect on ischemically damaged kidneys. The similar results observ ed with category 2 and category 3 NHB donors also suggest this effect. The high PNF rate emphasizes the need for viability tests that pre ve nt the transplantation of nonviable organs. We conclude that MP alone is not sufficient to reduce DF and PNF rates in NHB donor kidneys.