Does Cerebral Angiography of Cadaveric Kidney Donors Interfere with Graft Function?

Cerebral angiography is used to diagnose brain death of cadaver kidney donors. Clinical and animal data suggest that angiographic contrast media may potentiate the noxious effect of renal ischemia. In order to find out if cerebral angiography of cadaveric kidney donors prior to nephrectomy interferes with function or survival of the renal grafts, two groups of cadaveric donors were compared. One group had been exposed to contrast medium from cerebral angiography in median 18 hours before nephrectomy and the other had not. There was no difference in graft survival and function between the two groups. In a previous investigation angiography was performed two hours before explantation and in that investigation there was a shorter graft survival in the angiography group than in a control group. A delay of 12 hours is suggested between cerebral angiography and explantation, to decrease the combined harmful effects of contrast media and ischemia on renal grafts.