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Objective To evaluate the effect of the preservation of the donor kidneys from donation after cardiac death (DCD) and expanded criteria donor (ECD) by donor kidney pulse perfusion storage transporter (LifePort) on the postoperative recovery of renal function in recipients undergoing renal transplantation. Methods Perioperative clinical data of 466 donors (DCD+ECD) and 882 recipients undergoing renal transplantation were retrospectively analyzed. According to different approaches of kidney preservation, bilateral kidneys of 309 DCD donors were randomly divided into the LifePort group (DCD-LP, n=309) and DCD cold storage group (n=309). All the bilateral kidneys of 132 ECD donors were stored and transported by LifePort and assigned into the ECD-LP group (n=264). The postoperative overall condition, early postoperative renal function indexes and postoperative complications of the recipients were observed among three groups. The pathological findings of renal puncture before renal transplantation were observed in donor kidneys. The LifePort perfusion parameters of the donor kidney were compared between the recipients with and without delayed graft function (DGF) after renal transplantation. Results Compared with the DCD cold storage group, the length of hospital stay was significantly shorter in the DCD-LP and ECD-LP groups (both P<0.05). The survival rate of the recipients was 100% in three groups. The survival rate of the donor kidney was 99.7%, 100% and 99.2% in the DCD cold storage, DCD-LP and ECD-LP groups, respectively. No statistical difference was observed among three groups (all P>0.05). Compared with the DCD cold storage group, the incidence of DGF was significantly lower in the DCD-LP and ECD-LP groups (both P<0.05). Early postoperative renal function, the incidence of acute rejection, infection and surgical complications did not significantly differ among three groups (all P>0.05). Pathological examination demonstrated that usage of LifePort perfusion could significantly mitigate the edema, degeneration and necrosis of renal tubules. In the recipients with DGF, the LifePort perfusion resistance index of donor kidney was significantly higher, whereas the LifePort perfusion volume of donor kidney was considerably lower than those without DGF (both P<0.05). Conclusions LifePort can effectively improve the quality of the donor kidney from DCD and ECD in vitro, reduce the incidence of postoperative DGF, promote the recovery of transplanted kidney function and predict the postoperative recovery during the maintenance and evaluation of the isolated kidney. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]