Differential Cytokine Levels during Normothermic Kidney Perfusion with Whole Blood- or Red Blood Cell-Based Perfusates-Results of a Scoping Review and Experimental Study.

The ideal composition of the perfusate for normothermic kidney perfusion is unknown, though the perfusate commonly used to perfuse human kidneys contains leukocyte-depleted packed red blood cells (RBC), as this is believed to prevent excessive inflammation. We performed a systematic search identifying 19 articles reporting on cytokine levels during normothermic pig or human kidney perfusion. Cytokine levels varied widely across the reported studies.