Time and Temperature are of the Essence in Kidney |Biomedgrid

Kidney transplantation has become a routine and effective surgical procedure since the first successful transplant in 1954 [1]. Over the last 40 years, much attention has focussed on the development of immunosuppression to improve patient outcomes. Kidney transplantation, for suitable patients, provides benefits both in duration and quality of life when compared with other forms of kidney replacement therapy [2]. However, the number of suitable recipients far exceeds the supply of appropriate donor organs worldwide. In Australia and New Zealand, less than 9% of dialysis patients are ever listed for kidney transplantation, meaning the majority will die on dialysis. This organ shortage has stimulated interest in both increasing the number of suitable organ donors, as well as improving more marginal organs that are currently being utilised for transplantation [2-7]. The majority of deceased donor kidneys are retrieved from patients who typically had significant co-morbidities prior to their death, as well as age-related changes that affect their renal function and resilience to further ischaemic injury. Deceased donation follows either a donation after brain death (DBD) pathway or a donation after circulatory death (DCD) pathway.