• Of 431 cadaver kidneys available for transplantation, 75 were discarded after a period of pulsatile perfusion. Kidneys were discarded because of poor flow, multiple arteries with segmental obstruction, prolonged warm ischemia time, perfusion pump malfunction, and lack of donor cells for crossmatching, among other reasons.
Certain selected variables common to transplanted kidneys and kidneys discarded have been analyzed. The most significant finding was that 70% of transplanted kidneys came from donors who had received pretreatment with either phenoxybenzamine hydrochloride, methylprednisolone sodium succinate, or phentolamine mesylate. Only 33.3% of kidneys discarded were taken from donors who had received such pretreatment (P<.01).
Attention is focused on the need for careful consideration of the technical aspects of donor nephrectomy as well as the need for donor pretreatment, in order to decrease the number of discarded kidneys.
(Arch Surg 111:1129-1130, 1976)