Gaseous oxygen perfusion of the renal vessels as an adjunct in kidney preservation.

Gaseous oxygen perfusion of the stored kidney provides life-supporting renal function in canine kidneys damaged by 30 min of warm ischaemia followed by cold storage for a total of 24 hr. Other simple methods of renal preservation, including simple flushing and cold storage and oxygenation of the flush solution and the fluid surrounding the kidney during storage, did not result in consistent life-supporting renal function under these experimental conditions. Low pressure venous oxygen perfusion of the kidney produced significantly better renal function than arterial oxygen perfusion as measured by post-transplant creatinine values. This preservation technique uses apparatus readily available in hospitals and once instituted does not require supervision. It may have clinical application in cadaveric renal transplantation, particularly if the donor kidney has been subjected to warm ischaemia.