Clinical characteristics and management of kidney transplantation in the older adults: monocentric retrospective analysis / 中华器官移植杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the clinical characteristics and management of kidney transplantation in the older adults.Method Forty older kidney recipients (≥60 years old) and 777 younger (18～59 years old) recipients from June 2009 to December 2012 were retrospectively reviewed to evaluate the clinical characteristics and managements.Result Of 40 older recipients,the comorbidities of diabetes and coronary artery disease in older group were higher than in the younger (25％ vs.4.9％,and 32.50％ vs.11.38％).During the first 6 months,7 older patients died,among which 4 died from severe pneumonia,2 from heart failure and 1 from pulmonary embolism.There were 31 deaths in younger group,among which 21 died from severe pneumonia,4 from heart failure,5 from cerebrovascular accident and 2 from pulmonary embolism.The mortality in the older group was higher than in the younger group (17.5％ vs.4.6％).Six-month and 3-year survival rate in the older recipients was lower than the younger recipients (81.56％ vs.95.35％,and 81.56％ vs.94.5％,respectively).Six-month graft survival rate and 3-year survival rate in the older group were also lower than in the younger group (78.75％ vs.92.02％,and 68.82％ vs.85.40％).At the 1st and 2nd year during follow-up,the serum creatinines in the older group were close to those in the younger group,while lower level was observed 3 years after transplantation in the older patients (89.38 ± 11.34 (mol/ L vs.116.57±48.68 (mol/L).Conclusion The patients with ESRD older than 60 years have more preoperative concomitant diseases and worse health status,which contribute to the complex clinical characteristics.More aggressive indication selection,sufficient pre-operative preparation,wellmatched histocompatibility and high quality of donor kidney are the key factors of successful transplantation.Optimized immunosuppressant therapy,delicate perioperative management,preventve and effective treatment of related complications are necessary to promote the survival of recipients and graft in long term.