Regional program for kidney preservation and transplantation in New England.

From July 1972 to March 1975, 431 cadaver kidneys were harvested and preserved by continuous pulsatile perfusion with cryoprecipitated human plasma. Forty-eight per cent of the transplanted kidneys were considered to have immediate function, another 48 per cent demonstrated acute tubular necrosis, and 4 per cent were classified as nonfunctioning. There was no difference in the incidence of acute tubular necrosis in relation to the total preservation time. There was a significant difference in the survival of primary cadaver grafts at six months and one year between the kidneys that demonstrated immediate function and those with acute tubular necrosis.