A multicenter retrospective study by de Sandes-Freitas et al. sought to determine the national rate of delayed graft function (DGF) and the associated risk factors with DGF. They studied 8,657 single deceased donor kidney transplants between January 2014 and December 2015.  

They found that:  

• The rate of DGF varied from 29.9% to 87.7% among kidney transplant sites 
• They found several risk factors for DGF including: 

• • End-stage kidney disease 
  • Time on dialysis 
  • Retransplantation 
  • HLA mismatches, and 
  • Cold ischemic time 

• Reduced risk of DGF were associated with machine perfusion and the use of rabbit antithymocyte globulin (rATG). 

Overall, they concluded that the results from this study could help the Brazilian transplant community to create strategies to reduce DGF.  Important measures would include shortening cold ischemic times, increasing the use of machine perfusion, and reducing the time between brain death and retrieval surgery. 

Read the full article here: https://doi.org/10.1111/tri.13865