[Donations after cardiac death kidney transplantation in northwest China]

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of donations after cardiac death (DCD) kidney transplant performed in northwest China and the measures for management of delayed graft function (DGF).

METHODS: In the period of 2011-2013, a total of 51 families of DCD donor gave their consent to organ donation by signing the informed consent with the help by a Red Cross Organization (ROC) coordinator, and 102 kidneys were retrieved by organ procurement organization (OPO) teams. Ninety-four operations of renal transplantation were carried out in our hospital. All the patients were followed-up and based on the occurrence of DGF after transplantation, they were divided into DGF group and non-DGF group for comparative studies.

RESULTS: The success rate of donation after cardiac death was 29.3%, and the incidence of post-transplantation DGF was 27.7%. The 1-year human/kidney survival rate was 98.9%/95.7%. Within six months after the transplant, the values of eGFR in DGF group were significantly lower and serum creatinine significantly higher than those in non-DGF group (P<0.05), but no significant differences were found between the two groups thereafter (P>0.05). The occurrence of DGF in LifePort mechanical perfusion cohorts was significantly lower than that in the simple cold preservation group (21.5% vs. 41.4%, P<0.05).

CONCLUSION: The overall effect of DCD kidney transplant is good despite a high incidence of early DGF, and we recommend the use of low-temperature mechanical perfusion for storage and transportation of DCD donor kidney.