Pre-emptive renal transplantation in children and adolescents

✍ Scribed by Gisela Offner; Peter Friedrich Hoyer; Bettina Meyer; Rudolf Pichlmayr; Johannes Brodehl

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 326 KB
• Volume: 6
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0934-0874
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00336353

✦ Synopsis

Forty-three out of 204 children received their first renal transplant without prior dialysis. In order to evaluate the outcome of pre-emptive transplantation, two groups were compared retrospectively. The groups consisted of 28 children who received their transplants either without prior dialysis (ND) or after a varying period of dialysis (D). They were matched by age, year of transplantation, immunosuppressive regimen, donor source, and original disease. The percentage of living related donors was 50% in each group. Patient survival was identical in both groups; one patient died in each group due to infection in the early post-transplantation period. The 5-year graft survival rates were 89% in the ND group versus 72% in the D group. The functional parameters graft function, anemia, hyperparathyroidism, hypertension, and the growth rates tended to be slightly better in the ND group than in the D group. The differences, however, were not significant. We conclude that pre-emptive transplantation is a safe procedure that shortens the period of uremia and is, therefore, recommended for children with end-stage renal failure.