Regional hypothermia of the kidney: surface or transarterial perfusion cooling? A functional study.

Hypothermia reduces ischemic damage if prolonged occlusion of the renal artery is required during an in situ kidney operation. Hypothermia may be achieved by external cooling or by transarterial hypothermic perfusion. External cooling may lower intrarenal temperature heterogeneously. Perfusion techniques via intra-arterial catheters introduced percutaneously are associated with minimal technical difficulties. The 95 patients who underwent extensive hypothermic nephrolithotomy had differential 131iodine hippuran clearance studies preoperatively, and 2 weeks and 6 to 46 months postoperatively. Sixty-three kidneys were cooled by transarterial hypothermic perfusion and 39 were cooled with topic…