The following is a summary of “Uncontrolled donation after cardiac death kidney transplantation: Opportunity to expand the donor pool?,” published in the JUNE 2023 issue of Surgery by Rouhi, et al.

For a study, researchers sought to compare the long-term allograft outcomes of uncontrolled donation after cardiac death (uDCD) kidney transplantation with controlled donation after cardiac death (cDCD) kidney transplantation in the United States.

Data from the OPTN/UNOS database were analyzed between January 1995 and January 2018 to identify reported uDCD and cDCD kidney transplantation cases. The study compared primary non-function, delayed graft function rates, ten-year graft survival, and patient survival between uDCD and cDCD kidney transplant recipients.

Following uDCD transplantation, the rates of primary non-function (4.0% [uDCD] vs. 1.8% [cDCD], P < 0.001) and delayed graft function (51.1% [uDCD] vs. 41.7% [cDCD], P < 0.001) were higher. However, the ten-year graft survival (47.5% [uDCD] vs. 48.4% [cDCD], P = 0.21) and patient survival rates were similar between uDCD and cDCD transplantation (59.4% [uDCD] vs. 59.2% [cDCD], P = 0.32).

While initial allograft outcomes are less favorable following uDCD kidney transplantation, the long-term durability of uDCD kidney allografts is comparable to cDCD transplantation. Therefore, kidney allografts derived from uDCD may serve as a viable and durable option to expand the donor pool.

Source: americanjournalofsurgery.com/article/S0002-9610(22)00796-6/fulltext