Forty-eight-hour kidney preservation. A comparison of flushing and ice storage with perfusion

Cold nonperfusional (flushing and ice storage) with Collins or Sacks solution and perfusional preservation with cryoprecipitated plasma or albumin were compared in dog kidneys. All these methods were effective in achieving excellent 48-hour preservation of fresh kidneys. After exposure to 20 minutes of ischemia at 37 C, neither of the flushing solutions yielded kidneys that permitted survival of recipients after 48 hours of preservation, and flushed kidneys functioned poorly after 24 hours of preservation. In contrast, both plasma- and albumin-perfused kidneys exposed to ischemia supported life satisfactorily and with normal function. Therefore, simple and inexpensive flushing and ice storage techniques are entirely satisfactorily for the preservation of ideally harvested cadaver kidneys, while the more complex and expensive perfusional techniques must be employed in preserving ischemia-damaged organs.