Single port laparoscopic donor nephrectomy: first case report in Ramathibodi Hospital.

The prevalence of patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) is showing an increasing trend. At the same time, the waiting lists for cadaveric donor kidney transplantation continue to grow. Living donor kidneys may be an alternative for patients to receive kidneys for transplantation. However a wide gap exists between the numbers of living kidney donors and the numbers of recipients on waiting lists. Many considerations are involved in living organ donation, including cosmetic reasons. Laparoscopic living donor nephrectomy has become the technique of choice for kidney transplantation in many centers. The benefits of a laparoscopic technique compared with open surgery include reduced blood loss, less analgesic requirement, a shorter hospital stay, faster return to work, and fewer cosmetic effects. The next step in minimal invasive surgery is laparoendoscopic single port donor nephrectomy Early outcomes show this technique to be safe and cosmetically improved This procedure may be the answer to reduce the gap between numbers of kidney donors and waiting recipients. We report our first experience of single port laparoendoscopic left donor nephrectomy. A 48-year-old healthy Thai man wished to donate his kidney to his 18-year-old son who suffered from IgA nephropathy and ended up with ESRD. The operation took three hours. The estimated blood loss was 50 ml and no blood transfusion was required. The donor was discharged home safely without any complications.

Vascular calcification in long-term kidney transplantation.

AIM: Vascular calcification (VC) is common among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) due to the strong prevalence of cardiovascular and CKD-related risk factors such as diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension and phosphate retention. Kidney transplantation improves kidney function and abnormal mineral metabolism at the same time. It remains unclear whether kidney transplantation favourably impacts VC in the long-term. METHODS: The present study examined VC in 132 kidney transplant (KT) recipients who had been transplanted for longer than one year. The severity of VC was compared to 129 CKD stages 5-5D patients on a kidney transplant (KT) waiting list. RESULTS: The median KT vintage was 88 months. The prevalence of VC among KT and CKD patients were 54.5% and 62.8%, respectively, (P = 0.2). There were no differences in age, gender, body mass index (BMI), the prevalence of DM or CVD between the two groups. Among patients with calcification, a more severe degree was observed in KT recipients (P = 0.01). Aging, DM, CVD and dialysis vintage were associated with significant VC in both groups. The degree of VC in KT recipients was more pronounced than that in CKD patients among those who experienced prolonged dialysis vintage (>2 years) (P = 0.04). Among KT recipients, the severity of VC increased with the length of time after transplantation and became more substantial after 5 years. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term KT recipients demonstrated a more severe degree of VC compared to matched CKD stages 5-5D patients. The severity of VC became more pronounced among those with longer transplant vintage and was in part influenced by past dialysis experience.

Co-administration of diltiazem and cyclosporine for kidney transplant recipients: a four year follow-up study.

BACKGROUND: Diltiazem and cyclosporin A (CsA) share a similar metabolism and degradation via the hepatic cytochrome p 450 subfamily 3A4. Co-administration of diltiazem with CsA may lead to CsA dosage reduction, blood pressure control and renal protection. OBJECTIVES: To study the four year outcome of kidney transplant recipients who received diltiazem administration with CsA. This was compared to the outcomes of patients who received CsA without diltiazem and were matched for blood pressure control and other baseline characteristics. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Forty eight patients were included in the diltiazem group and seventy patients in the non-diltiazem group. CsA monitoring was done by using trough level (monoclonal fluorescent polarization immunoassay). RESULTS: The results showed that both groups has similar 4-year graft survival (92 and 95 %) with a similar mean final serum creatinine (1.3 mg/dl). Mean dose of CsA during the first month was 30 % lower in the diltiazem than non-diltiazem group. At one year CsA dose was 11% lower in the diltiazem than non-diltiazem group. However the diltiazem group was associated with significantly higher probability to have chronic allograft nephropathy than the non-diltiazem group (31% VS 19%) (RR 2.93; p = 0.03; Multivariate Cox regression). CONCLUSION: Co administration of diltiazem with trough level adjusted CsA is associated with benefits in terms of CsA dose reduction and good graft survival and function. However there appeared to be no protective effect of diltiazem on the progression to chronic allograft nephropathy.