Effectiveness and Harms of Using Kidneys with Small Renal Tumors from Deceased or Living Donors as a Source of Renal Transplantation: A Systematic Review.

CONTEXT: Kidney transplantation is the best treatment for patients with end-stage renal disease. Incidence of small renal masses (SRMs), which most frequently are renal cell carcinomas (RCCs), is highest in patients aged >60 yr. The increasing age of donors can lead to the diagnosis of a higher number of SRMs when assessing the patient for transplantation, and so can theoretically decrease the number of kidneys suitable for transplantation. Aiming to increase the pool of kidneys suitable for transplantation, a number of studies have reported their experience using kidneys with SRMs for transplantation. OBJECTIVE: To systematically review all available evidence on the effectiveness and harm of using kidneys with SRMs as a source of transplantation. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A computerized bibliographic search of the Medline, Embase, and Cochrane databases was performed for all studies reporting outcomes of adult renal transplantation using kidneys with SRMs. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Nineteen studies enrolling 109 patients were included and synthesized narratively. The mean recipient age was 44.2 yr, and kidneys used were retrieved from living donors in 86% (94/109) of cases. Tumor excision was performed ex vivo in all cases except for two. The vast majority of excised tumors were RCCs (88/109 patients), and clear-cell subtype was most common. The mean tumor size was 2cm (range 0.5-6.0cm) and tumor grade was G1-G2 in 93% (75/81) of patients. With a mean follow-up of 39.9 mo, overall survival rates at 1, 3, and 5 yr were 97.7%, 95.4%, and 92%, respectively, and the mean graft survival rates 99.2%, 95%, and 95.6%, respectively. Only one local relapse occurred 9 yr after transplantation, which was managed conservatively. Functional outcomes, although infrequently reported, appear to be similar to those of conventional transplants, with 1.6% of these patients needing reoperation. CONCLUSIONS: The current literature, although with low-level evidence, suggests that kidneys with excised SRMs are an acceptable source of transplantation without compromising oncological outcomes and with similar functional outcomes to other donor kidneys. PATIENT SUMMARY: Renal transplantation using a kidney with a small renal mass does not appear to increase the risk of cancer recurrence and can be a good option for selected patients after appropriate counseling and allocation.

Management of Localised Prostate Cancer in Kidney Transplant Patients: A Systematic Review from the EAU Guidelines on Renal Transplantation Panel.

CONTEXT: Cancer development after kidney transplant (KT) has become a major problem, and currently, it is one of the primary causes of death in this population. Urological cancers after KT such as prostate cancer (PCa) have also increased, partly due to the increasing age of recipients and prolonged survival. PCa is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in men, accounting for 15% of all cancers. Managing localised PCa after KT remains challenging because of treating an immunosuppressed patient with a kidney graft in the pelvic cavity. Several papers reporting PCa treatment after KT have been published. Merging all the available data and summarising most important evidence could be useful for scientific community involved in this issue. OBJECTIVE: To systematically review all the available evidence in literature regarding the management of localised PCa after KT. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: Computerised bibliographic search of Medline, Embase, and Cochrane databases was performed for all studies reporting outcomes of localised PCa diagnosed in KT patients undergoing curative treatments, including surgery, external beam radiotherapy (EBR) and brachytherapy. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: In total, 41 studies included 319 patients with localised PCa after KT. Their mean age was 61.8 (range, 47-79) yr and mean time from KT to PCa was 122 (range, 2-336) mo. Mean prostate-specific antigen was 8.5 (range, 0.3-82), most frequent biopsy Gleason score was 3+3 (50.5%), 62.1% were cT1-cT2, and 56.1% belonged to low-intermediate D'Amico-risk groups. Surgery was performed in 82.1%. After mean follow-up of 33 (range, 1-240) mo, cancer-specific survival at 5 yr was 97.5%, 87.5%, and 94.4% after surgery, EBR, and brachytherapy, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Radical prostatectomy is the preferred treatment of localised PCa after KT. Overall oncological outcomes do not seem to be worse than general population when performed in referral centres. Other curative treatments such as EBR or brachytherapy were less frequently used; however, brachytherapy showed promising results in a small number of patients. Further better-quality studies should help to clarify the optimal method of managing localised PCa after KT. PATIENT SUMMARY: Localised PCa after KT seems to have similar oncological outcomes after curative treatments than in general population, with surgery being the most common option for treatment.