Living‐donor kidney retransplantation: risk factors and outcome

• Published in: BJU international Vol. 94; no. 3; pp. 369 - 373
• Main Authors: El‐Agroudy, Amgad E., Wafa, Ehab W., Bakr, Mohamed A., Donia, Ahmed F., Ismail, Amani M., Shokeir, Ahmed A., Shehab El‐Dein, Ahmed B., Ghoneim, Mohamed a.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01-08-2004; Blackwell
• Subjects: Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Graft Rejection - prevention & control; Humans; Immunosuppressive Agents - therapeutic use; kidney; Kidney Failure, Chronic - surgery; Kidney Transplantation - methods; living donor; Living Donors; Male; Medical sciences; Nephrology. Urinary tract diseases; Nephropathies. Renovascular diseases. Renal failure; Postoperative Complications - etiology; Renal failure; Reoperation; retransplantation; Risk Factors; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Surgery of the urinary system; survival; Treatment Outcome; Kidney disease; Human; Nephrology; Urinary system disease; Prognosis; Living donor; retransplantation; Terminal stage; Transplantation; Survival; Kidney; Urology; Treatment; Surgery; Risk factor; Renal failure
• ISSN: 1464-4096; 1464-410X
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1464-410X.2004.04934.x

Authors from Mansoura in Egypt present a study of risk factors and outcome from living‐donor renal re‐transplantation. This is sometimes avoided as being unlikely to have a good outcome, but it is shown here to be the treatment of choice in patients who have lost the primary graft.
OBJECTIVE
To review the results of kidney retransplantation at our centre.
PATIENTS AND METHODS
Between March 1976 and January 2002, 1406 kidneys were transplanted; among these, 54 patients received a second graft (39 men, mean age 32.1 years, sd 8.6). The donors were 48 relatives (mean age 35.4 years, sd 10.1).
RESULTS
The mean (sd, range) duration of the first graft was 49.1 (45.9, 1–192) months and the main cause of these grafts failing was immunological. The mean duration of graft failure was 17.3 (10.5, 5–62) months. The rate of histocompatibility leukocyte antigen (HLA)‐A, ‐B >3 was 16.7% and of haplotype DR matching was 11%. The immunosuppression regimen was mainly based on cyclosporin (75%). There were 33 episodes of acute rejection in 23 patients. The major complications were hypertension (70%), infections (30%) and hepatitis (11%). The overall graft and patient survival was good; 15 grafts (27%) were lost during the follow‐up of 1–17 years. Ten patients died, five with a functioning graft. Multivariate analysis showed that donor relationship, primary immunosuppression, duration of first graft and serum creatinine level at 1 year were predictors of graft survival.
CONCLUSION
Renal retransplantation is the treatment of choice in patients who have lost their graft. The use of related living‐donors and potent immunosuppression could help to improve the outcome.