Uncontrolled donors with controlled reperfusion after sixty minutes of asystole: a novel reliable resource for kidney transplantation.

Background: Organ shortage leads to usage of kidneys from donors after sudden cardiac death, or uncontrolled donors (UDCD). Ischemic injury due to cessation of circulation remains a crucial problem that limits adoption of UDCD. Our clinical investigation was to determine the applicability of kidneys obtained from UDCD and resuscitated by extracorporeal perfusion in situ after 60 minutes of asystole.

Kidney from uncontrolled donors after cardiac death with one hour warm ischemic time: resuscitation by extracorporal normothermic abdominal perfusion "in situ" by leukocytes-free oxygenated blood.

The availability of brain death donors is restricted by many factors. Use of uncontrolled donors after cardiac death could be a promising perspective, but the limiting factor in uncontrolled donation after cardiac death is the warm ischemic time. The purpose of our work was to develop an in situ kidney preservation protocol with application of the extracorporal normothermic abdominal perfusion for organ resuscitation in uncontrolled donors after cardiac death.