Living unrelated renal donation: the University of Wisconsin experience.
BACKGROUND
Living unrelated renal donation (LURD) has the potential to reduce the current waiting list significantly for kidney transplantation. The purpose of this study was to examine the long-term results of 150 LURDs performed at our center during a 16-year period.


METHODS
From Dec 23, 1981, to Feb 13, 1998, 150 LURDs, 219 human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-identical, 577 haploidentical, and 1789 cadaveric kidney transplant procedures were performed. Surgical complications, rejection episodes, infectious complications, and the cause of graft loss and death were examined. Ten-year patient and graft survival rates between groups were compared.


RESULTS
Fourteen surgical complications including lymphocele (n = 7), ureteral stricture (n = 4), and ureteral leak (n = 3) were seen. Seventy-eight patients (52%) had 123 rejection episodes and 66 patients (44%) had 1 or more infections. Thirty-six allografts were lost and 25 deaths occurred. Patient survival rates at 10 years for HLA-identical, haploidentical, LURD, and cadaveric transplant procedures were 86%, 82%, 63%, and 64%, respectively. Allograft survival rates at 10 years for HLA-identical, haploidentical, LURD, and cadaver transplant procedures were 75%, 59%, 56%, and 44%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Long-term LURD allograft survival rates are lower than those for HLA-identical but equivalent to those of haploidentical and better than those of cadaveric kidney transplantations. Spousal and nonspousal LURDs should be actively encouraged to help alleviate the current donor kidney shortage.
Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison, USA.
A M
AM
D'Alessandro
J D
JD
Pirsch
S J
SJ
Knechtle
J S
JS
Odorico
W J
WJ
Van der Werf
B H
BH
Collins
Y T
YT
Becker
M
M
Kalayoglu
M J
MJ
Armbrust
H W
HW
Sollinger
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002102:Cadaver; D005260:Female; D006084:Graft Rejection; D006085:Graft Survival; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality; D019520:Living Donors; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D015996:Survival Rate
D006680:HLA Antigens