Microvascular surgery in experimental and clinical kidney transplantation

An improved microsurgical technique for orthotopic rat kidney transplantation is described in detail. (1) End-to-end anastomosis of renal arteries with 7-8 interrupted 10-0 sutures. (2) End-to-end anastomosis of renal veins with 2 continuous semicircular 10-0 sutures. (3) Non-splinted end-to-end ureteric anastomosis with 4 interrupted full-thickness 11-0 sutures. (4) Simultaneous bilateral nephrectomy. Seventy transplantations were analysed. No failure due to complications of the vascular anastomoses occurred. The ureteric anastomoses were complicated by stenosis in only 5 animals (7%). The operation times for vascular anastomoses were 20 (15-24) minutes and for complete transplantation 50 (45-60) minutes. This technique seems to be less time consuming than other methods. Our method has produced a success rate of 93% with well standardized and reproducible organ quality. Preliminary clinical experiences with extracorporeal microvascular reconstruction in 4 cases of injured small polar kidney allograft arteries support the continued application in appropriate situations to increase the number of suitable donor kidneys.