Abstract: Objective To explore the effect of donations after cardiac death (DCD) kidney transplant performed in northwest
China and the measures for management of delayed graft function (DGF). Methods In the period of 2011-2013, a total of 51
families of DCD donor gave their consent to organ donation by signing the informed consent with the help by a Red Cross
Organization (ROC) coordinater, and 102 kidneys were retrieved by organ procurement organization (OPO) teams.
Ninety-four operations of renal transplantation were carried out in our hospital. All the patients were followed-up and based
on the occurrence of DGF after transplantation, they were divided into DGF group and non-DGF group for comparative
studies. Results The success rate of donation after cardiac death was 29.3%, and the incidence of post-transplantation DGF was
27.7%. The 1-year human/kidney survival rate was 98.9%/95.7%. Within six months after the transplant, the values of eGFR in
DGF group were significantly lower and serum creatinine significantly higher than those in non-DGF group (P<0.05), but no
significant differences were found between the two groups thereafter (P>0.05). The occurrence of DGF in LifePort mechanical
perfusion cohorts was significantly lower than that in the simple cold preservation group (21.5% vs. 41.4% , P<0.05).
Conclusion The overall effect of DCD kidney transplant is good despite a high incidence of early DGF, and we recommend the
use of low-temperature mechanical perfusion for storage and transportation of DCD donor kidney.