THİLİNA GUNAWARDENA, HEMANT SHARMA, ABDULWAHAB ELMGHRBEE, SANJAY MEHRA
Experimental and Clinical Transplantation - 2022;20(8):732-736
Objectives: There is a global increase in the prevalence of end-stage kidney disease among the elderly. As a result, more elderly recipients are being considered for kidney transplants. Because of the scarcity of donor organs, such patients are more likely to receive transplants from nonstandard donor kidneys. Here, we examined the outcomes of kidney transplants with a nonstandard donor allograft in recipients ≥70 years of age. Materials and Methods: Records of patients who received transplants at a single UK center from April 1, 2015, through March 31, 2021, were retrospectively analyzed to identify those who were ≥70 years old at the time of surgery. Outcomes of those who received a kidney transplant from a nonstandard donor (group 1) were compared to those who received a kidney transplant from a standard criteria donor or living donor (group 2). Results: During the study period, of 670 kidney transplant procedures, 67 recipients (10%) were ≥70 years of age at the time of surgery, with 54 (80.6%) identified in group 1 and 13 (19.4%) identified in group 2. Cold ischemia time (P = .001) and incidence of delayed graft function (P = .044) were significantly higher in group 1. Duration of graft survival at the end of follow-up was not different between the groups (log rank = 0.218), but the mean serum creatinine values at 2 years (P = .016) and 3 years (P = .048) years were significantly higher in group 1. Patients in group 1 had shorter survival time (log rank = 0.037). Conclusions: Nonstandard donor kidneys should be used cautiously in elderly recipients as patient survival was shown to be comparatively poor compared with elderly recipients who received a kidney transplant from a standard criteria donor or a living donor.
