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Updated: Jun 17, 2026
Normothermic Ex Vivo Kidney Perfusion for the Preservation of Kidney Grafts prior to Transplantation
Published on: July 15, 2015
In vitro, ex vivo and in vivo isotherms for renal cryotherapy
Jennifer L Young1, Surendra B Kolla, Donald L Pick
1University of California-Irvine, Orange, California, USA. jlyoung@uci.edu
Purpose:
Preoperative planning for renal cryotherapy is based on isotherms established in gel. We replicated gel isotherms and correlated them with ex vivo and in vivo isotherms in a porcine model.
Materials And Methods:
PERC-17 CryoProbes (1.7 mm) and IceRods (1.47 mm) underwent trials in gel, ex vivo and in vivo porcine kidneys. Temperatures were recorded at 13 predetermined locations with multipoint thermal sensors.
Results:
At the cryoprobe temperatures were not significantly different along the probe in any medium for either system (p = 0.0947 to 0.9609). However, away from the probe ex vivo and in vivo trials showed warmer temperatures toward the cryoprobe tip for each system (p = 0.0003 to 0.2141). Mean +/- SE temperature 5 mm distal to the cryoprobe tip in vivo was 19.2C +/- 16.1C for CryoProbes and 27.3C +/- 11.2C for IceRods. Temperatures were consistently colder with CryoProbes than with IceRods in gel (p <0.00005), ex vivo (p <0.00005) and in vivo (p = 0.0014). At almost all sites temperatures were significantly colder in gel and in ex vivo kidney than in in vivo kidney for CryoProbes (p = 0.0107 and 0.0008, respectively) and for IceRods (each p <0.00005).
Conclusions:
Gel and ex vivo isotherms do not predict the in vivo pattern of freezing. Thus, they should not be used for preoperative planning. The cryoprobe should be passed 5 mm beyond the tumor border to achieve suitably cold temperatures. Multipoint thermal sensor probes are recommended to record actual temperature during renal cryotherapy.
