Introduction: Living donor renal transplantation is a treatment option for patients on dialysis in view of the ever-growing transplantation waiting lists and the stagnation in the number of deceased donors.
Objectives: The objectives of this study were to provide retrospective review of our living donor kidney transplantation series (1978-2003) and analysis of graft survival prognostic factors.
Materials and methods: Among 121 living donor transplantations, the donor mean age was 50.9 years (SD, 1.53) and recipient mean age was 30.4 years (SD, 1.4). Eighty-eight percent of donors were women, 90% were related: siblings 21%, parents 69%, and spouses 6.6%. Kidney failure was of nephrological etiology in 65% of patients and urologic in 15.6%. Eighty-four percent were primary grafts and 16% were second ones. Also, 66.7% of kidneys were placed in the iliac fossa and the rest were left orthotopic approaches. Other analyzed variables included donor gender, acute rejection episodes (ARE), creatinine levels at 1 and 6 months, hypertension (HT), and pediatric recipients.
Results: Univariate analysis (Kaplan-Meier) showed that, in patients suffering from ARE or not, the mean graft survival was 7.5 and 15 years, respectively (P <.05). Mean graft survival among patients with nephrological problems was 8 years and in those with urologic etiology 15 years (P < .05). Multivariate analysis with Cox regression showed that etiology, ARE, and creatinine level at 6 months after transplantation were independent prognostic variables for graft failure. The overall graft survival rates were 78% at 5 years, 58% at 10 years, 42% at 15 years, and 24% at 20 years follow-up.
Conclusion: Living donor kidney transplantation is a valid treatment choice for end-stage patients with excellent graft survival rates, especially in cases of urologic etiology. Development of new immunosupressant strategies will help improve outcomes.