Influence of normal central venous pressure on onset of function in renal allografts.

The central venous pressure was kept above 5 cmH2O during the perioperative and early postoperative period as guidance for fluid replacement in 31 patients receiving a renal graft (group B). In 30 other transplant recipients the central venous pressure was not measured (group A). The two groups were otherwise comparable. Onset of graft function within the first 3 postoperative days was significantly more frequent in group B than in group A (62% vs. 30%), despite absence of difference in the measurable warm and cold ischemic periods. Fluid replacement guided by the central venous pressure thus is concluded to reduce the number of kidneys with delayed function in the immediate postoperative period.