Remote Ischaemic Preconditioning in Transplantation (RIPTRANS)

Remote Ischaemic Preconditioning in Transplantation (RIPTRANS) - A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial

Remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) is a concept where remotely induced ischemia produces protection against ischemia-reperfusion injury in a remote organ. RIPC has been studied extensively in animal models and heart surgery, but it's benefit in transplantation has been studied less. The primary aim of this study is to find out whether RIPC performed in a donor in donation after brain-death (DBD) could improve delayed graft function rate of kidney transplants.

Donor Inclusion Criteria:

• Brain-dead organ donor with a plan of harvesting at least one kidney

Donor Exclusion Criteria:

• Haemodynamically unstable donor
• Age below 18 years
• Planned organ recipients are recruited to another prospective trial, which prevents participation in this trial.

All organ recipients receiving organs (kidney, liver, pancreas-kidney, heart, lungs) from a randomized donor will be recruited providing that the recipient surgery is performed at Helsinki University Hospital, recipient is over 18 years old, and recipient gives written informed consent to participate in the trial.