Treatment of emergency surgical complications of kidney transplantations.
Surgical complications subsequent to the kidney transplantation are not infrequent and they are characterized by the high percentage of graft loss (596-18% in standard surgical procedures and up to 37% in atypically performed transplantations). The study included 311 transplanted patients (206 (66.2%) living donors and 105 (33.8%) cadaver donors). Surgical complications developing during the immediate posttransplantation period as well as during the late period (after a year and a half) were classified as: I urinary complications; II vascular complications; III other complications. In majority of the cases urinary complications (urinary fistulas, ureteral obstructions, vesico-ureteral reflux) as well as other complications (cholecystopancreatitis and lymphocele) did not necessitate urgent treatment, unlike most of the vascular complications. All the vascular complications (29/311) developed during the immediate postoperative period, except for occurrence of arterial stenoses which ensued later on, while the development of symptoms was rapid. Severity of both symptoms and clinical picture necessitated urgent surgical re-intervention in order to preserve the graft and patient's life. Vascular complications were classified as: true vascular complications, hemorrhages and kidney ruptures in order to distinguish technical and other factors contributing to development of the complications. Onset of the true vascular complications related to the graft and recipient blood vessel changes was evidenced in 20 patients (69%/29 patients) while the incidence of hemorrhages and ruptures was considerably lower (14%/29 patients and 17%/29 patients). As for the true vascular complications, vascular stem thrombosis subsequent to cadaveric transplantations was the most frequent, and transplantectomy was performed in all the cases in absence of any lethal outcomes. Two cases with iliac artery rupture resulted in graft loss subsequent to urgen exploration. In all cases with hemorrhages the applied therapy resulted in positive responses, except in one case in which massive gastrointestinal hemorrhage led to lethal outcome. The response to the urgent surgical treatment of spontaneous kidney graft ruptures was positive in 60% of the cases, while in the remaining 40% transplantectomy was necessitated due to the extensiveness of the lesion in order to preserve patient's life.
Institute of Urology and Nephrology, Clinic of Urology, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade.
Z
Z
Dzamić
M
M
Aćimović
C
C
Tulić
D
D
Basić
D
D
Milutinović
J
J
Hadzi-Djokić
D003251:Constriction, Pathologic; D004630:Emergencies; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000098:blood supply; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D012422:Rupture, Spontaneous; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy