Objectives: As the recipient pool continues to rise, it is vital to conserve donor organs whenever possible. Injured renal allografts continue to be discarded for a variety of reasons, and salvaging potentially useable grafts is of utmost importance. Little information is available on outcomes of salvaged allografts. Here, we present an easily replicable technique to salvage damaged renal allografts using polyglactin mesh.
Materials and methods: Polyglactin woven mesh was used to salvage 4 otherwise irreparably injured allografts. In the first case, unidentified extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy-induced microfractures 2 months before procurement of a deceased-donor kidney led to significant capsular injury. In the second case, rapid recovery of a deceased-donor kidney limited evaluation, and severe capsular rupture was diagnosed after perfusion. In the third case, an anticoagulated pediatric recipient received a living related-donor kidney from his mother, and a biopsy-induced hematoma 2 months posttransplant led to severe capsular denudation. In the fourth case, a pumped kidney from a donor after cardiac death developed severe focal capsular denudation. In each case, a keyhole hilar-sparing incision was made in an industry-standard 12 × 12-inch polyglactin mesh sheet, which was then fitted and sutured in a vest-over-pants method to provide a scaffold for hemostasis and capsular healing. Topical hemostatic agents were added in the first and fourth cases. Patients were followed longitudinally.
Results: All allografts were successfully salvaged using our technique, and none developed Page kidney, hydronephrosis, urinoma, or hemorrhage. At last follow-up, recipient 1 had kidney loss 7 years postrepair secondary to chronic allograft nephropathy, recipient 2 was lost to follow-up at 1 year with normal renal function, and recipients 3 and 4 had normal renal function at years 3 and 7 posttransplant.
Conclusions: This simple technique using readily available materials can salvage allografts that would have been potentially explanted or discarded.