Renal artery reconstruction for harvesting injuries in kidney transplantation with particular reference to the use of vascular allografts

Long-term outcomes of left versus right laparoscopic living donor nephrectomy with multiple renal arteries

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this study is to compare the long-term graft outcomes of left versus right donor nephrectomy with multiple renal arteries, and therefore creating a reference for the expansion of the potential living kidney donor pool.

METHODS

Laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy cases between May 2010 and October 2020 were included in this retrospective cross-sectional study. The data relating to donor and recipient demographics, surgical and anatomical characteristics, recipient and graft status were retrieved and compared using nonparametric statistical methods and multivariate regression. Analyses were fit for survival factors.

RESULTS

A total of 1009 recipients were included in this retrospective cross-sectional study with their donors. 16.7% of the donors had been discovered to have more than one renal artery supplying the donated kidney. The acute rejection rate was 12.8%. Death-censored graft survival at post-operative year 5 for single renal artery transplants was 89.6%, 89.5% for left-sided multiple renal arteries, and 88.2% for right-sided ones.

CONCLUSIONS

Both right donor nephrectomy and left donor nephrectomy are safe procedures with no significant negatively impacted rates for neither survival nor complications of the recipients in the long-term, compared to single renal artery ones.

Successful Transplantation of Pediatric Kidneys Despite Vascular Injuries

The gap between the kidney transplant recipient list and the number of organs available for transplantation continues to grow. Pediatric donors help fill a small and valuable portion of that gap. Normally these organs are transplanted en-bloc by closing the proximal vascular caps and using the distal aorta and distal inferior vena cava (IVC) for inflow. They are however commonly injured during the donor operation making the standard operation for pediatric en-bloc transplantation not possible. This case report presents two cases in which injured small pediatric kidneys were transplanted successfully in adult patients. We are presenting two examples of common vascular injuries to small pediatric kidneys, one venous and one arterial. In both scenarios, the kidneys were transplanted using a modification to the standard technique. The two kidneys were separated and the technique of implantation was modified to allow safe transplantation. This way we were able to transplant both kidneys successfully and using a reproducible methodology. Both recipients were young adults. There were no surgical complications.

The use of bovine pericardial patch for vascular reconstruction in infected fields for transplant recipients

Infectious vascular complications affecting transplant recipients may lead to severe morbidity and graft loss. This is a retrospective review of vascular repair with bovine pericardial patch (BPP) in infected fields for immunosuppressed patients. BPP was used as either a patch or an interposition graft. Five cases of arterial reconstruction in infected fields using BPP were performed. There were no complications related to bleeding, thrombosis, or recurrent infection. In our limited experience, the use of BPP as a vascular patch is successful, and it represents an alternative when vascular reconstruction is needed in the context of infected fields.