Virtual microscopy improves sharing of deceased donor kidneys

Area of Science:

• Nephrology
• Transplantation
• Pathology

Background:

• Donor kidney biopsies are crucial for organ offer evaluation but can extend cold ischemia time.
• Traditional biopsy processing at local hospitals led to delays.
• Virtual microscopy (VM) was implemented to streamline this process.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of virtual microscopy (VM) on the turnaround time for donor kidney biopsy results.
• To assess the effect of VM on the time to local organ acceptance.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective comparison of donor kidneys biopsied over one year using VM versus the previous year's cohort (n=43, 40).
• Analysis focused on time to biopsy result and time to local acceptance.

Main Results:

• Virtual microscopy (VM) significantly shortened the time to biopsy results (5:04 vs 6:30, P = .04).
• Overnight cases showed the most substantial improvement in result turnaround time (4:49 vs 8:12, P < .01).
• Time to local organ acceptance was also significantly reduced with VM (7:01 vs 9:52, P < .01), especially for overnight cases (7:25 vs 11:10, P < .01).

Conclusions:

• Virtual microscopy (VM) effectively decreases the time required for donor kidney biopsy result interpretation.
• The implementation of VM leads to a significant reduction in the time to local organ acceptance.
• VM offers particular benefits for optimizing organ evaluation during overnight hours.