The fate of 359 renal allografts harvested from non-heart beating cadaver donors at a single center.

The fates of 359 kidneys harvested from 181 non-heart beating donors (NHBD) at a single center, using a regional in situ cooling technique were retrospectively investigated. 1. Thirty-five kidneys (9.7%) were discarded mainly due to poor arterial perfusion and bacterial contamination. 2. The incidence of primary nonfunction in patients treated with Aza was significantly higher than that in patients receiving CsA or FK (20.5% [8 grafts] vs 6.0% [17 grafts], respectively, p < 0.01). 3. The incidences of immediate and delayed graft function were 16.1% and 77.9%, respectively, among 285 recipients treated with CsA/FK. The average of duration of posttransplant dialysis required in recipients with DGF was 13.7 days and the average lowest serum creatinine level in patients who recovered graft function was 1.58 mg/dl. 4. Patient survival rates in the CsA/FK group were 97.2%, 95.0%, 93.2% and 89.3% at one, 3, 5 and 10 years, respectively, and the graft survival rates at one, 3, 5 and 10 years were 83.3%, 72.0%, 64.7% and 48.6%, respectively. 5. Increasing donor age showed a significant correlation with increased serum creatinine levels as well as with prolonged posttransplant dialysis (p < 0.001 and p < 0.01, respectively). 6. Renal grafts from donors with cerebrovascular disease (CVD) had significantly higher lowest serum creatine levels than grafts from non-CVD donors (p < 0.0001). 7. Renal grafts harvested from NHBD using our in situ cooling technique had excellent renal function when the donor was young or the cause of death was non-CVD. However, when the donor was older (> or = 56 years) and the cause of death was CVD, the grafts were acceptable but the early posttransplant function was often impaired. 8. The current NHBD graft survival rate, the UNOS cadaveric renal graft survival rate and the Japanese living-related donor renal graft survival rate were almost identical at 10 years posttransplant. 9. NHBDs should provide an excellent opportunity to increase organ availability.