Frequency and fate of human renal allografts contaminated prior to transplantation.

Bacterial cultures were done from donor ureter and/or graft perfusion fluid on 92 of 112 patients who had renal transplantations during 1977. Three samples of perfusion fluid and 14 samples of donor ureter contained bacteria. In nine cases there was a gram-positive organism, and in 10 cases a gram-negative rod was (among) the contaminant(s). There was no difference in the rate of graft survival, patient survival, or in the frequency of major postoperative complications between the two groups. Only in two instances could the urinary tract infection following transplanation be traced to the contaminating organism. Except for one case in which a urinary fistula may have been linked to the graft contamination, there were no clinically significant sequelae from the contaminated allografts.