There is evidence that immunological mechanisms may injure hypothermically perfused kidneys after reimplantation if the perfusate contained specific antibody. Cross described two pairs of human cadaver kidneys that were perfused simultaneously with cryoprecipitated plasma containing type specific HLA antibody to one of the pairs. Both these kidneys suffered early arterial thrombosis. Light described similar hyperacute rejection following perfusion storage and showed that the cryoprecipitated plasma used contained cytotoxic IgM antibody. This potential danger of using cryoprecipitated plasma was demonstrated experimentally by Filo who perfused dog kidneys for 24 hours with specifically sensitised cryoprecipitated dog plasma and found that he could induce glomerular and vascular lesions with capillary engorgement, endothelial swelling, infiltration by polymorphonuclear leucocytes and arterial thrombosis. Immunofluorescent microscopy demonstrated specific binding of IgG along endothelial surfaces, in glomeruli, and also in vessels. After reimplantation, complement fixation and tissue damage occurred in a similar pattern. There was some correlation between the severity of the histological damage and subsequent function of the kidneys.
Many workers have attempted to prevent kidneys rewarming during reimplantation but only Cohen has described using a system of active cooling. Measurements of lysosomal enzyme release from kidneys subjected to sham anastomoses, when either in or out of the cooling system, demonstrated how sensitive kidneys were to rewarming after a period of cold storage, and confirmed the effectiveness of the cooling system in preventing enzyme release. A further factor in minimising injury at the reimplantation operations may have been that the kidneys were kept at 7 °C within the cooling coil, which was within a degree of the temperature used during perfusion storage, so that the kidneys were not subjected to the greater changes in temperature that would have occurred if ice cooling had been used.
Dempster described using slow release of the vascular clamps at the end of kidney reimplantation operations to avoid injuring the kidney, but other workers have not mentioned whether or not they used this manoeuvre. After Cohen found vascular injury with intra renal bleeding after 3 days of perfusion storage, a technique of slow revascularisation was used for all subsequent experiments, with the aim of giving the intra- renal vessels time to recover their tone sufficiently to prevent full systolic pressure being applied to the fragile glomerular vessels. The absence of gross vascular injury in his later perfusions may be attributable to the use of this manoeuvre.