Outcomes of Shipped Live Donor Kidney Transplants Compared With Traditional Livi

[Clark]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25052215

Transpl Int. 2014 Jul 22. doi: 10.1111/tri.12405. [Epub ahead of print]
Outcomes of Shipped Live Donor Kidney Transplants Compared With Traditional Living Donor Kidney Transplants.
Treat EG1, Miller ET, Kwan L, Connor SE, Maliski SL, Hicks EM, Williams KC, Whitted LA, Gritsch HA, McGuire SM, Mone TD, Veale JL.

Abstract
CLINICAL PROBLEM:
The disparity between kidney transplant candidates and donors necessitates innovations to increase organ availability. Transporting kidneys allows for living donors and recipients to undergo surgery with a familiar transplant team, city, friends and family. The effect of shipping kidneys and prolonged cold ischemia time (CIT) with living donor transplantation outcomes is not clearly known.
METHODS:
Retrospective matched (age, gender, race, and year of procedure) cohort study comparing allograft outcomes for shipped live donor kidney transplants and non-shipped living donor kidney transplants.
RESULTS:
57 shipped live donor kidneys were transplanted from 31 institutions in 26 cities. The mean shipping distance was 1,634 miles (range 123-2811) with mean CIT of 12.1 ± 2.8 hours. The incidence of delayed graft function in the shipped cohort was 1.8% (1/57) compared to 0% (0/57) in the non-shipped cohort. The 1-year allograft survival was 98% in both cohorts. There was no significant differences between the mean serum creatinine values or the rates of serum creatinine decline in the immediate post-operative period even after adjusted for gender and differences in recipient and donor BMI.
CONCLUSION:
Despite prolonged cold ischemia times, outcomes for shipped live donor kidney transplants were similar when compared to matched non-shipped living donor kidney transplants.