Kidney transplantation from brain dead donors has become a routine treatment for renal failure. Acute graft failure or early rejection after transplantation is multifactorial process; the characteristics of cadaveric donor is one of the features. Our study evaluated brain dead donors and possible effect of their therapy on the graft survival prognosis. In our study we evaluated thirty-three brain dead donors of cadaveric kidney. Fifteen donors had a brain death following non-traumatic injury (D1), ten patients suffered brain death after craniocerebral injury and were not transfused (D2), eight brain dead patients after craniocerebral injury were transfused (D3). Considering limitations of the study based on the small number of donors in the groups, we can conclude that there is a higher rate of acute graft rejections resistant to corticosteroids harvested from non-traumatic brain dead donors and from donors being transfused.

        Key words: brain death – blood transfusion – head brain injury – lymphocyte subpopulation – cytokines