Work

Case Report: Portable hypothermic machine perfusion for interregional deceased-donor kidney sharing in Vietnam

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Long-distance transportation can prolong cold ischemia and complicate the utilization of deceased-donor kidneys, particularly in geographically dispersed transplant systems. We report, to our knowledge, the first clinical implementation in Vietnam of portable hypothermic machine perfusion (HMP) during interregional kidney transport. A kidney from a 61-year-old expanded-criteria deceased donor was allocated to a 42-year-old man with end-stage renal disease who had been receiving hemodialysis for 2 years following failure of a previous kidney allograft. The graft was transported over 1,000 km by ground transfer and scheduled commercial flight and was preserved using a LifePort Kidney Transporter with KPS-1 solution under pressure-controlled HMP at 30 mmHg. Total cold ischemia time was 10 h 50 min. From HMP initiation to arrival, renal vascular resistance decreased from 1.68 to 0.44 mmHg/mL/min, while perfusate flow increased from 16 to 52 mL/min. Despite three separate renal arteries and a second warm ischemia time of 55 min, the graft produced urine immediately after reperfusion. The recipient required no dialysis during the first postoperative week and maintained stable graft function at 6 months, with a serum creatinine of 142 µmol/L and an estimated glomerular filtration rate of approximately 55 mL/min/1.73 m 2 . This case demonstrates the operational feasibility of portable HMP for long-distance, interregional deceased-donor kidney sharing in Vietnam.

Source: Frontiers in Transplantation

DOI: 10.3389/frtra.2026.1982759