En-bloc kidney transplantation from small infant donors to adult recipients: a report of 22 cases / 中华器官移植杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To summarize the clinical outcomes of en-bloc kidney transplantation from small infant donors to adult recipients at a single center.Methods:A total of 22 en-bloc transplantations from pediatric donors to adult recipients were performed from July 2013 to October 2017 in Institute of Organ Transplantation Affiliated Tongji Hospital Tongji Medical College Huazhong University of Science. Clinical data were retrospectively analyzed. The average age of 22 donors was (2.9±1.7) months with an average weight of (4.9±1.4) kg and 15 of them were aged under 3 months. The average weight of 22 adult recipients was (46.3±5.6) kg and most recipients were female. The causes of early graft failure and recipient death were examined during follow-ups. The recipients with functioning grafts post-transplantation were divided into single kidney survival group and en-bloc kidney survival group based upon the occurrence of unilateral vascular thrombosis. Medium/long-term renal graft function was compared between two groups.Results:Early graft failure occurred in 4 recipients. The causes were bilateral renal vascular thrombosis ( n=2), renal rupture ( n=1) and multiple organ failure followed by death ( n=1). Eighteen recipients were discharged after a recovery of renal graft function. One case had a removal of bilateral renal grafts due to new-onset graft tumor and another two died from interstitial pneumonia and complicate systematic disorder respectively during follow-ups. Among the remaining 15 recipients, 10 achieved bilateral renal survival (median follow-up: 59 months) and 5 unilateral renal survival (median follow-up: 48 months). The average eGFR of bilateral renal survival group was significantly higher than that of unilateral renal survival group at Year 1 post-transplantation (95±27 vs 61±24 ml/min/1.73 m 2, P<0.05) while the gap narrowed at Year 3 and there was no statistical significance (95±21 vs 69±31 ml/min/1.73 m 2, P=0.12). Conclusions:Although en-bloc kidney transplantation from infant donors can expand organ donor pool, there is a higher risk of early graft failure and unilateral renal vascular thrombosis. Nevertheless, satisfactory renal transplant outcomes may be achieved in patients with unilateral renal graft survival.