Below-Target Postoperative Arterial Blood Pressure but Not Central Venous Pressure Is Associated With Delayed Graft Function

Delayed graft function (DGF) is a major issue in kidney transplantation and is associated with reduced graft and patient survival. The condition results from the summative effects of multiple injurious processes associated with transplantation with many underlying factors being nonmodifiable. Reducing cold ischemic time and machine perfusion have decreased the DGF incidence but peri-/postoperative injury resulting from suboptimal perfusion may also be critical to the development of DGF. We investigated the effect of perfusion parameters and other key variables on the incidence of DGF in 149 consecutive renal transplants. The occurrence of any recorded subtarget (70 mm Hg) mean arterial pressure (MAP) was significantly associated with DGF (perioperative P = .005; postoperative P = .002) while the occurrence of a subtarget (8 cm H2O) central venous pressure (CVP) among other variables was not. Routine continuous blood pressure monitoring is rare postoperatively and is shown to be more accurate than CVP in assessing renal perfusion and guiding management in the postoperative period.