Marginal living donor in kidney transplantation: experience in a Chinese single center.
BACKGROUND
Living donor kidney transplantation is becoming popular in China, whereas, in clinical situations, some kidney donors may be sub-optimal, namely marginal living donor. The present study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of marginal living donor kidney transplantation in a Chinese single center.


METHODS
Between January 2001 and December 2009, 888 kidney transplantations were performed in our center; 149 were living donor kidney transplantations. The living donors and recipients were followed up regularly after the operation. Of the living donors, 30 donors were marginal, who were older than 60 years or suffered from kidney anomaly or some benign diseases. Among the non-marginal living kidney transplantations, 58 donors and recipients had complete perioperative and follow-up data. We compared the marginal and non-marginal living donor kidney transplantations with regard to donor age, follow-up period, donor's serum creatinine at the last follow-up, recipient's serum creatinine at the last follow-up, and graft survival at the last follow-up.


RESULTS
The mean age of donors in the marginal and non-marginal living donors were (55 ± 9) (37-66) and (43 ± 12) (30-59) years. The mean follow-up times of the marginal and non-marginal groups were (26.4 ± 13.4) months and (28.8 ± 14.8) months. The donor and recipient serum creatinine levels at the last follow-up were (1.16 ± 0.20) mg/dl and (1.30 ± 0.24) mg/dl in the marginal group, and (1.12 ± 0.32) mg/dl and (1.34 ± 0.32) mg/dl in the non-marginal group. Three recipients in the marginal group and five recipients in the non-marginal group had acute rejection episodes during the first year. Actuarial 3-year graft survival was 96.7% in the marginal group and 100% in the non-marginal group. No significant differences were detected between the two groups with regard to these data.


CONCLUSIONS
Utilization of highly selective marginal living donors can be a safe, feasible, and effective way for the treatment of patients with end stage renal disease.
Department of Urology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China.
Gang
G
Li
Yun-peng
YP
Wang
Lu-lin
LL
Ma
Jing
J
Zhang
Hong-xian
HX
Zhang
Yi
Y
Huang
Xiao-fei
XF
Hou
Chun-lei
CL
Xiao
Lei
L
Zhao
Guo-liang
GL
Wang
Xiao-jun
XJ
Tian
Min
M
Qiu
Yi
Y
Zheng
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003404:Creatinine / Q000097:blood; D046148:Donor Selection; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D019520:Living Donors; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D003404:Creatinine