Comparison of live donor pre‐transplant and recipient post‐transplant renal volumes

Abstract

Pre-transplant and post-transplant kidney volumes are correlated with post-transplant graft function, and graft growth is affected by the relative sexes of the recipient and donor.

Correlation of whole kidney hypertrophy with glomerular over‐filtration in live, gender‐mismatched renal transplant allografts

“…Hypertrophy of donated renal allografts after transplantation has been evaluated by several volumetric methods, including radioisotopes, Doppler ultrasonography, and 3D‐CT . Our previous study, together with others, demonstrated that the increase in allograft volume during the first year after transplantation correlated significantly with residual renal function in recipients . These findings indicate that 3D‐CT may be useful in screening for graft filtration overload, which is critical in determining allograft survival.…”

“…Earlier studies have used donor body surface area, donor body weight, renal graft weight and cross‐sectional renal area on ultrasound as surrogate markers of nephron mass . We previously reported that the mean volume of the pretransplant grafted kidney increased approximately 27% after transplantation, with graft growth being most prominent in grafts from female donors to male recipients . The increase in kidney volume likely reflects excess filtration, resulting from the concomitant enlargement of glomerular volume.…”

Correlation of Glomerular Size With Donor–Recipient Factors and With Response to Injury

“…27 Similar conflicting findings have been reported in studies using overall kidney volume as a surrogate for glomerular volume, based on imaging and histologic studies that show a significant correlation between overall kidney volume and glomerular volume. 25 Kidney size may increase in the first year after transplantation, particularly in female donor to male recipient transplants and child to adult transplants, 28 providing evidence that transplanted kidneys can adapt to increases in functional demand. El-Agroudy et al 23 reported that 5-y graft survival rates were lower in transplants from small body weight donors into large body weight recipients, suggesting that, clinically, glomerular hypertrophy resulting from increased functional demand may be maladaptive.…”

Remaining kidney volume indexed to weight as a strong predictor of estimated glomerular filtration rate at 1 year and mid‐term renal function after living‐donor nephrectomy ‐ a retrospective observational study

“…Kidney volume as a surrogate marker of nephron mass and renal function has been presented by many authors as a good predictor of recipient renal function. Many studies to date have investigated donor factors associated with recipient renal function and outcomes, though scarce data are available about factors associated with donor's renal function after nephrectomy [9‐16].…”