Ten-Year Experience of Selective Omission of the Pretransplant Crossmatch Test in Deceased Donor Kidney Transplantation

A pretransplant lymphocyte crossmatch (XM) test is usually considered mandatory but may delay deceased donor renal transplantation. We report on the safety and clinical efficacy of omitting the XM when it is predicted to be negative based on sensitization history and human leukocyte antigen-specific antibody screening. From 1998 to 2008, 606 deceased donor kidney transplants were performed at our center and the prospective donor-recipient XM omitted in 257 (42%). In all cases, a negative XM was confirmed retrospectively. Four hundred fourteen (68%) kidneys were donated after brain death (DBD) and 192 (32%) after cardiac death (DCD). The effect of this policy on cold ischemia time (CIT), delayed graft function (DGF), and transplant survival was assessed. Mean CIT was 16.7 hr with a prospective XM and 14.3 hr when it was omitted (P