Healing of surgical incision in kidney transplantation: a single transplant center's experience.
BACKGROUND
Impaired healing of the surgical incision represents a common complication after kidney transplantation. We led a retrospective study seeking to understand the factors linked to these complications and reasons for their reduction during the last year.


METHODS
From January 2000 to April 2004, 170 consecutive kidney transplantations were performed in a homogenous patient population. We evaluated the influence of following factors to determine impaired healing of the incision: antirejection drugs, overweight/obesity, age, delayed graft function (DGF), diabetes, and abdominal wall reconstruction technique.


RESULTS
Among 165 patients we observed 26 (15.76%) cases of impaired healing of the surgical incision: 17 (65,38%) with first-level and nine with second-level wound complications.


CONCLUSIONS
Impaired healing of the surgical incision influences the outcome of kidney transplant patients. In our study we observed that cyclosporine and tacrolimus similary affected the incision's healing. It was not possible to evaluate the role of basiliximab. A univariate analysis of the factors related to complications revealed overweight and DGF. However, all patients developing second-level complications showed more risk factors. Patients who had not had reconstruction of the muscle layers showed a greater incidence of surgical complications, whereas patients who had skin sutured with an intradermic technique did not show an increased risk.
Santangelo
M
M
General, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery Department, OU of General Surgery and Organ Transplantation, University of Naples Federico II, Torre del Greco, Italy. michele.santangelo@unina.it
De Rosa
P
P
Spiezia
S
S
Spinosa
G
G
Grassia
S
S
Zuccaro
M
M
Renda
A
A
D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013529:Surgical Wound Dehiscence / Q000145:classification* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014945:Wound Healing