Cold ischaemia time added to kidneys can be minimized by completing the final cross-match before organs are taken from the operating room

• Published in: Clinical transplantation 2003-01, Vol.17 (s9), p.58-64
• Main Author: Bryan, Christopher F
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: cold ischaemia time; Cold Temperature; final cross-match; Graft Survival - physiology; Histocompatibility Testing - methods; Humans; Ischemia; kidney; kidney + pancreas; Kidney - blood supply; Kidney Transplantation - immunology; Kidney Transplantation - methods; Time Factors; Tissue and Organ Harvesting - methods; Tissue and Organ Procurement - organization & administration; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 0902-0063; 1399-0012
• DOI: 10.1034/j.1399-0012.17.s9.11.x

: Purpose: Minimizing the amount of cold ischaemia time (CIT) added to cadaveric kidneys before their transplantation is an important goal since longer CIT is associated with worse long‐term graft outcome. Our organ procurement organization (OPO) and HLA laboratories have taken the approach of performing the histocompatibility testing, including the final cross‐match, as early in the donor process as possible. Methods: The data in this study were collected from all consecutive final cross‐matches done for cadaveric kidney (n = 113) and simultaneous pancreas + kidney (SPK) (n = 25) transplants done with organs recovered from donors in the Midwest Transplant Network OPO from 1 January 2001 to 9 May 2002. We evaluated the time the final cross‐match was completed from when the kidneys from that donor were taken from the operating room (OR) and compared that time with CIT. Results: For kidney transplants, 72% of the final cross‐matches were complete before the kidneys were taken from the OR. The CIT of that group (10.4 ± 3.8 h) was significantly lower than that of the group of kidney transplant patients whose final cross‐match was done after the kidneys were taken from the OR (15.5 ± 5.8 h) (P  0.1). Conclusions: These data show that the practice of completing the final cross‐match as early in the donor process as possible helps to minimize the amount of cold ischaemia time added to the kidneys and pancreata before transplantation. That should reduce the detrimental influence that longer CIT has on short‐ and long‐term function in kidney as well as SPK transplantation.