Dual Kidney Transplant Patients Do
Well With Organs From Older Donors
WESTPORT, Sep 24 (Reuters Health) - Recipients of dual
kidney transplants who receive organs from older donors selected
under expanded criteria do as well as recipients of a single kidney from a younger donor, researchers at Stanford University in California report in the September issue of the Archives of
Surgery.
Dr. Amy D. Lu and others reviewed the records of all cadaveric
kidney recipients over a 7-year period: 50 recipients of two
kidneys from expanded criteria donors, 73 recipients of a single
kidney from expanded criteria donors and 217 controls who
received a single kidney from a younger donor.
The investigators report that recipients of dual kidneys were older than patients in the control group. They also had fewer rejections than controls and creatinine clearance values that were similar at 3 months and 1 year to controls.
Predictors of rejection were similar among dual and single
recipients. Those predictors were receiving kidneys from donors
with unstable renal function before organ harvest and recipients
with delayed graft function.
Dr. Lu and colleagues write that the findings show that "...efforts should be continued to aggressively use aged donors for dual [cadaveric renal transplants] in an effort to ameliorate the disparity between donors and patients awaiting transplantation."
The Stanford team reports that it has been able to increase "...the number of organs available for transplant by 15%," and that "...no difference in complications in dual versus single expanded criteria donor kidneys."
Arch Surg 1999;134:971-976.
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