Pediatric live-donor kidney transplantation in Mansoura Urology & Nephrology Center: a 28-year perspective

Our objective was to evaluate our overall experience in pediatric renal transplantation. Between March 1976 and March 2004, 1,600 live-donor kidney transplantations were carried out in our center; 216 of the patients were 18 years old or younger (mean age 12.9 years). There were 136 male patients and 80 female patients. The commonest causes of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) were renal dysplasia (22%), nephrotic syndrome (20%), hereditary nephritis (16%), and obstructive uropathy (16%). Of the donors, 94% were one-haplotype matched and the rest were identical. Pre-emptive transplantation was performed in 51 (23%) patients. Triple-therapy immunosuppression (prednisone + cyclosporine + azathioprine) was used in 78.2% of transplants. Rejection-free recipients constituted 47.7%. Hypertension (62%) was the commonest complication. A substantial proportion of patients (48%) were short, with height standard deviation score (SDS) less than -1.88. The overall infection rate was high, and the majority (53%) of infections were bacterial. The graft survival at 1 year, 5 years and 10 years were 93.4%, 73.3% and 48.2%, respectively, while the patients' survival at 1, 5 and 10 years were 97.6%, 87.8% and 75.3%, respectively. Despite long-term success results of pediatric renal transplantation in a developing country, there is a risk of significant morbidity.