A cooling jacket to reduce renal damage during transplantation.

There is evidence that warming of the cadaver kidney during transplantation is deleterious to its subsequent function. A simple cooling jacket to delay kidney warming during implantation is described. A controlled study of the temperature rise in 5 porcine kidneys exposed to body temperature showed significant reductions in renal core and cortical temperatures at 60 min from above 30 degrees C to below 13 degrees C when using the jacket. Advantages of this device in practice and some practical points in its use are discussed.