title: Successful outcomes of older donors in laparoscopic donor nephrectomy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Healthy older living donors (> 50 years) are helping meet increasing demands for kidney transplantation. Live donor grafts perform better than cadaveric donor grafts; however, concern surrounds the expected nephron loss of the donors as well as the relative safety to the donor. We examined the effect age had on living laparoscopic donor and recipient outcomes at a single institution.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively reviewed records of 101 patients who underwent laparoscopic donor nephrectomy (LDN) from October 2001 to December 2005. Twenty-nine (29%) who were aged 50 years or older, denoted as the "older" group, were compared with the remaining 72 (71%) donors who were younger than 50 years and served as controls. Perioperative and follow-up data were analyzed for both groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age at the time of donation was 36.1 and 54.3 years for control and older donors, respectively (P < 0.001). Baseline mean creatinine level was 0.82 mg/dL for controls and 0.84 mg/dL for older donors (P = 0.78). Complications in controls and the older group were 18% and 17%, respectively. One-year transplant survival was 100% for the controls and 96% for the older group. Average creatinine level at longer follow-up of 19 months for controls and 23 months for the older group (P = 0.34) was 1.22 mg/dL and 1.16 mg/dL, respectively (P = 0.535).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  LDN in donors older than 50 years of age appears safe and demonstrates similar outcomes compared with the control cohort of patients younger than 50 years. Age between 50 and 65 years should not exclude a potential donor who otherwise satisfies donor nephrectomy criteria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas 66205, USA. dduchene@kumc.edu
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Duchene
authors.forename: Daniel Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Woodruff
authors.forename: Brian L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Gallagher
authors.forename: Howard A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Aubert
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Katz
authors.forename: Ty B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Dunn
authors.forename: Howard N
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Winfield
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D010535:Laparoscopy; D019520:Living Donors; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009392:Nephrectomy / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult