No abstract

Background The small number of organ donors forces transplant centres to consider potentially suboptimal kidneys for transplantation. Eurotransplant established an algorithm for rescue allocation (RA) of kidneys repeatedly declined or not allocated within 5 h after procurement. Data on the outcomes and benefits of RA are scarce to date. Methods We conducted a retrospective 8-year analysis of transplant outcomes of RA offers based on our in-house criteria catalogue for acceptance and decline of organs and potential recipients. Results RA donors and recipients were both older compared with standard allocation (SA). RA donors more frequently had a history of hypertension, diabetes or fulfilled expanded criteria donor key parameters. RA recipients had poorer human leucocyte antigen (HLA) matches and longer cold ischaemia times (CITs). However, waiting time was shorter and delayed graft function, primary non-function and biopsy-proven rejections were comparable to SA. Five-year graft and patient survival after RA were similar to SA. In multivariate models accounting for confounding factors, graft survival and mortality after RA and SA were comparable as well. Conclusions Facing relevant comorbidities and rapid deterioration with the risk of being removed from the waiting list, kidney transplantation after RA was identified to allow for earlier transplantation with excellent outcome. Data from this survey propose not to reject categorically organs from multimorbid donors with older age and a history of hypertension or diabetes to aim for the best possible HLA matching and to carefully calculate overall expected CIT.

Background: At Eurotransplant (ET), kidneys are transferred to 'rescue allocation' (RA), whenever the standard allocation (SA) algorithms Eurotransplant kidney allocation system (ETKAS) and Eurotransplant senior program (ESP) fail. We analyzed the outcome of RA. Methods: Retrospective patient clinical and demographic characteristics association analyses with graft outcomes for 2,421 recipients of a deceased donor renal transplantation (DDRT) after RA versus 25,475 after SA from 71 centers across all ET countries from 2006 to 2018.Results: Numbers of DDRTs after RA increased over the time, especially in Germany. RA played a minor role in ESP vs. ETKAS (2.7% vs. 10.4%). RA recipients and donors were older compared to SA recipients and donors, cold ischemia times were longer, waiting times were shorter, and the incidence of primary non-function was comparable. Among ETKASrecipients, HLA matching was more favorable in SA (mean 3.7 vs. 2.5). In multivariate modeling, the incidence of death with a functioning graft (DwFG) in ETKAS was reduced in RA compared to SA (subdistribution hazard ratio 0.70, 95% confidence interval [0.60-0.81], p<0.001) whereas other outcomes (mortality, graft loss) were not significantly different. None of the three outcomes were significantly different when comparing RA with SA within the ESP program.Conclusions: Facing increased waiting times and mortality on dialysis due to donor shortage, this study reveals encouragingly positive DDRT outcomes following RA. This supports the extension of RA to more patients and as an alternative tool to enable transplantation in patients in countries with prohibitively long waiting times or at risk of deterioration.