Impact of donor source on short-term outcome of renal transplantation in children

Abstract EN

Renal transplantation is the ideal renal replacement therapy for children with endstage renal disease (ESRD).

Follow-up of pediatric transplant recipients is tedious because of special problems like non-compliance to treatment and a very active immunological status.

Twenty-five pediatric patients with ESRD who received kidney transplants in four different centers were followed up at the Jeddah Kidney Center, Saudi Arabia for a mean period of 22 months.

The donor source for transplantation was as follows: living related (LR) in seven, cadaveric (CAD) and living unrelated (LUR) in nine patients each.

The overall graft survival was 88% and patient survival 100% at the end of the follow-up period.

Living related kidney recipients exhibited 100% graft survival at 22 months and also had the best kidney function.

All the graft losses were due to irreversible rejection episodes.

Medical complications were common and comprised of hypertension (82%), infection (52%) and rejection (44%).

Recipients of LR donor kidneys had the lowest incidence of these complications.

Surgical problems encountered were few and minor and needed only conservative management.

In our experience, children having renal transplantation have an excellent outcome at short-term particularly with LR donors.