Major determinants of primary non function from kidney donation after Maastricht II circulatory death: A single center experience

Organ shortage greatly limits treatment of patients with end-stage chronic kidney. Maastricht type 2 donation after circulatory death (DCD) has been shown to have similar results in long term outcomes in kidney transplantation, when compared with brain dead donation. Our main goal was to assess Maastricht type 2 DCD and evaluate factors that impact on early graft function. A retrospective study was conducted in an ECMO Referral Centre. All patients who received a kidney transplant from Maastricht type 2 DCD were included in study. Early graft function and short term outcomes were assessed. From October 2017 to December 2022, 47 renal grafts were collected from 24 uDCD donors. Median warm ischemia time was 106 min (94–115), cannulation time was 10 min (8; 20) and duration of extracorporeal reperfusion (ANOR) was 180 min (126–214). Regarding early graft function, 25% had immediate graft function, 63.6% had delayed graft function and 11.4% had primary non-function (PNF). There was a correlation between cannulation time (p = 0.006) and ANOR with PNF (p = 0.016). Cannulation time and ANOR were the main factors that correlated with PNF. Better understanding of underlying mechanisms should be sought in future studies to reduce the incidence of PNF.