[Quality of kidney procurement in Germany. Ten years experience and 486 renal allografts in a single centre]

Organ damage during organ procurement is believed to be an increasing problem among transplant centres. However, only very few published data are available. The purpose of our study was to examine the quality of kidney procurement in Germany.

We retrospectively analyzed all allograft renal transplants performed at our centre from 1996 to 2005. All kidneys were retrieved in Germany and allocated by Eurotransplant.

From a total of 486 cadaveric kidneys, 103 (21.2%) were not correctly retrieved. Nevertheless, none of the organs had to be rejected. In 18 (3.7%), a technically insufficient organ retrieval was associated with a considerable extension of the surgical procedure or complications.

Technically insufficient kidney procurement rarely results in clinical consequences. However, surgeons performing organ retrieval should be better trained. Whether adequate technical proficiency is achieved with ten supervised cases, as requested by the German Medical Association, remains to be determined. In our opinion, a further interdisciplinary course that trains surgeons in more refined techniques of organ procurement is desirable.