Effect of the Interval Between Organ Donor Brain Death and Organ Harvesting on Kidney Graft Function After Transplantation

We hypothesized that providing a longer resuscitation period (>12 hours) for a brain-dead organ donor (BDOD) to attenuate the detrimental effects of sympathetic discharge that occur during this event would improve graft function. We reviewed the medical records of patients who had received a kidney transplant from a BDOD between November 2001 and June 2006. The patients were divided into two groups according to whether the interval between the brain death of the organ donor and organ harvest was >12 hours (group 1 n = 12) or ≤12 hours (group 2 n = 11). The BDODs for the patients in the two groups displayed similar blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine levels during the interval between brain death and organ harvest. The graft recipients showed similar levels of serum creatinine. BUN, and urine output at baseline and on postoperative day 1 (P > .05). When compared with patients in group 2, those in group 1 demonstrated a significant trend toward improved renal graft function in terms of serum creatinine levels, BUN levels, and urine output. Five patients in group 2 and two patients in group 1 required hemodialysis during the early posttransplantation period (P > .05). Our results indicate that longer in situ resuscitation of the graft kidney in BDODs may improve posttransplant function.