title: Long-term outcome in kidney transplant recipients over 70 years in the Eurotransplant Senior Kidney Transplant Program: a single center experience.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Kidney transplantation in the elderly is complicated by comorbidities and a higher incidence of death. The Eurotransplant Senior Program (ESP) has been established to allocate kidneys from older donors to the increasing number of older recipients. In this retrospective, single center data analysis, we compare the outcome of recipients older than 70 years with younger recipients transplanted under the ESP protocol.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between 1999 and 2009, a total of 83 kidneys were transplanted under the ESP protocol in Innsbruck and 19 of the recipients were older than 70 years (mean, 72.7 years). Cold ischemia time was kept short in both groups by giving preference to regional donor organs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patient survival at 1 and 5 years were 95% and 67% in the 70+ group and 94.4% and 82.6% in the 70- group. Graft survival was 95% and 52% at 1 and 5 years in the 70+ group and 94.4% and 79.0% in the 70- group. When censored for death, graft survival at year 1 and 5 were 100% and 82% in the 70+ group and 98.1% and 92.7% in the 70- group. The delayed graft function rate was high in both groups (36.8% and 41.1%, respectively). Morbidities were largely related to hemodynamic, oncologic, and infectious events. Cardiac failure was the major cause of death.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Relatively good results can be achieved with renal transplantation in patients older than 70 years under careful pretransplant evaluation and postoperative management of comorbidities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Visceral, Transplant and Thoracic Surgery, Center of Operative Medicine, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria. claudia.boesmueller@uki.at
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Boesmueller
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Biebl
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Scheidl
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Oellinger
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Margreiter
authors.forename: Johann
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pratschke
authors.forename: Raimund
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Margreiter
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schneeberger
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D015897:Comorbidity; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000401:mortality*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014180:Transplantation / Q000401:mortality*