As the number of end-stage renal disease patients requiring transplant was steadily increasing, and the shortage of organs was becoming more severe, we began using cadaveric pediatric kidneys in 1989. When the age of the donor was less than three years, we used both kidneys together (en bloc) for one recipient.
Materials and MethodsFrom 1989 to 1997, we performed seven en bloc transplants from cadaveric donors aged between seven months and three years. Five of the seven patients were adults, and two were pediatric recipients. It was the second transplant in the first three recipients. The donor aorta and vena cava were sewn at their proximal ends. The distal end of the aorta was anastomosed to the external iliac artery and the vena cava to the external iliac vein. The ureters were sutured to make a single opening and anastomosed to the bladder as extravesical ureteroneocystostomy ( Figure 1).All the patients except Case numbers 3 and 7 received quadruple sequential therapy ALG or ATG, prednisone, cyclosporin or FK506 and Imuran or Mycophenolate Mofetil (MMF). The monoclonal antibody OKT3 was used for steroid-resistant rejection. FK506 was used as first-line treatment, or as rescue therapy in resistant rejection. Of late, MMF is being used as an initial immunosuppression.
ResultsCase number 1 received an en bloc kidney transplant in 1989, and was given anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) as induction. The patient developed two episodes of biopsy-proven rejection at 21 days and at two months, and was given OKT3 for 10 days. The kidneys never functioned and transplant nephrectomy was performed on the 68th day. The donor was a three-year-old whose renal function at the time of harvest was satisfactory. The cause of the nonfunction was probably rejection.The second patient received anti-lymphocyte globulin (ALG) for seven days, and continued on triple therapy. She had good primary function, and the DTPA nuclear scan on the first postoperative day showed good perfusion and excretion of the transplanted kidneys (Figure 2). No episode of rejection occurred, and the graft was still functioning well at 63 months. Her last creatinine level was 135 μmol/L.Case number 3 lost her en bloc transplant due to renal vein thrombosis on the first postoperative day. The fourth patient was a 14-year-old female who received an en bloc kidney transplant in October 1993. She received ALG for eight days, and then continued with triple therapy. She had four episodes of biopsy-proven rejections, and was treated successfully with pulse therapy. In November 1997, her renal function was satisfactory, but she returned 10 days later with severe rejection. This was because she had stopped her medication for three days. She was treated with pulse therapy and OKT3 for 12 days without improvement, losing her graft 50 months after transplantation because of noncompliance.