Purpose: Viability testing can be used to avoid the transplantation of nonheart beating donor organs that are likely to have primary nonfunction. Such testing also identifies a second group of kidneys which, although unsuitable for solitary transplantation, may be considered for dual transplantation. In kidneys in this group solitary transplants would be unlikely to produce a sufficient glomerular filtration rate to support the recipient. However, if used together as a dual transplant, they have the potential to produce sufficient renal function in 1 patient.
Materials and methods: The group at our unit has performed 23 dual nonheart beating donor renal transplants from 2003 to date. Using 3 and 12-month post-transplantation recipient glomerular filtration rates as primary end points we compared our dual transplant group with our series of 115 single nonheart beating donor transplants from 1998 to 2006.
Results: At 3 and 12 months mean glomerular filtration rates in the dual group were 46.2 and 45.5 ml per minute per 1.73 m(2), respectively. These values were not significantly different from the mean glomerular filtration rates of 40.7 and 43.0 ml per minute per 1.73 m(2), respectively, in the single transplant group.
Conclusions: We have observed that a subset of nonheart beating donor kidneys that do not satisfy the viability criteria for single organ transplantation may become successful dual organ grafts, thus, avoiding unnecessary organ nonuse and maximizing organ resources.