Controversy in organ preservation.

Renal preservation has contributed to improvements in human cadaver kidney transplantation in terms of viability testing and logistics. Unfortunately, the antigenicity of a kidney has not been reduced by our present preservation methods; consequently, immunologic problems in cadaver kidney transplantation still remain. Simple cold storage is an acceptable method for kidneys subjected to minimal warm ischemia. It can be used where anticipated storage time will not exceed 10 to 15 hours. Pulsatile or nonpulsatile machine perfusion will give better results especially when kidneys have sustained up to 60 minutes warm ischemia. Where there is also a need for storage time longer than 15 hours, perfusion should be used. Cryoprecipitated millipore-filtered plasma remains the most commonly used perfusate. Preservation really begins before the harvesting. Present preservation techniques cannot revive a dying kidney. No single test will determine the degree of viability of a kidney. A systematic multidisciplinary effort is needed to augment our understanding and knowlege about the effect of hypothermia on organs. Hopefully these efforts will result in the development of an organ bank whereby many more kidneys will be available for transplantation.