Synthetic perfusate for kidney preservation. Its use in 72-hour preservation of dog kidneys.

Hydroxyethyl starch (HES) was used as the sole colloid for oncotic support in a perfusate for successful (12 of 12 survivors) 72-hour kidney preservation by hypothermic-pulsatile perfusion. Posttransplant renal function was consistently better than that obtained with other perfusates commonly used in continuous perfusion preservation. Often the posttransplant serum creatinine levels rose to only 1.6 mg/dL and rapidly returned to normal (1.0 mg/dL). The perfusate included, in addition to HES, gluconate as the major anion in place of chloride. Perfusate containing high levels of potassium produces results equal to those with high levels of sodium. This is, to our knowledge, the first report of consecutive successful 72-hour preservation of canine kidneys using a purely synthetic perfusate devoid of animal-derived protein for colloid oncotic support.