The effect of two different renal preservation methods on canine renal allograft survival

Preservation of human cadaver kidneys for transplantation has been achieved primarily by two methods, hypothermic pulsatile perfusion with cryoprecipitated plasma and cold storage with an electrolyte solution. It has been suggested that pulsatile perfusion results in an increased antigenicity of the transplanted kidney. To investigate the possibility that pulsatile perfusion causes changes which may accelerate allograft rejection, machine preservation was compared with simple cold storage. The kidneys were preserved by either one of the two methods for 6 or 24 hours followed by allotransplantation in nephrectomised dogs. No immunosuppressive drugs were given. Kidneys which were allografted without undergoing any preservation (0 hrs) had a mean survival time of 10.4 +/- 1.7 days (n =5). Kidneys preserved by machine perfusion for 6 and 24 hours survival for 9.6 +/- 1.4 (n = 5) and 10.9 +/- 1.3 (n =9) days respectively. The mean survival time for simple cold storage for 6 and 24 hours was 9.3 +/- 1.3 (n =7) and 12.0 +/- 1.9 (n =6) days. Our findings suggest that in kidneys exposed to minimal warm ischaemia there is no significant difference between the two methods of preservation on renal allograft survival for the time intervals tested.