Static Cold Storage vs Ex Vivo Machine Perfusion: Results From a Comparative Study on Renal Transplant Outcome in a Controlled Donation After Circulatory Death Program.

Introduction: We aimed to evaluate if ex vivo machine perfusion could minimize the negative impact of cold ischemia on those renal grafts obtained from controlled donation after circulatory death (cDCD).

Material And Methods: Prospective observational paired study of kidney transplants from cDCD performed in our center. The kidney from each pair preserved on ice was transplanted first within the first few hours following procurement, while the contralateral kidney was machine-perfused with a LifePort device (Organ Recovery Systems, Brussels, Belgium) and transplanted the following day.

Results: A total of 12 cDCDs were included. No differences were observed in delayed graft dysfunction or graft survival between the 2 groups.

Conclusion: The use of ex vivo perfusion devices is simple and they do not require any large infrastructural or high economic investments, considering the fact that it allows a better selection of recipients and viable organs no longer need to be discarded because of prolonged warm ischemia times.