KIDNEY-TRANSPLANTATION FROM ELDERLY LIVING DONORS

Because of the inadequate numbers of organ donors, transplant surgeons are obliged to search for new horizons. Also, traditional beliefs are changing. The shortage of organs for transplantation, has led us to try certain arrangements so that suitable elderly organ donors may be included, as in many other transplant centers. We have now done 34 kidney transplantations from living related donors, who were 60 years of age and older. Donor-specific transfusions and low-dose triple drugs were used for all recipients. The overall patient survival was 97.5% and graft survival was 85.29%. In the light of these results we conclude that elderly living donor kidneys can be used satisfactorily with low-dose triple therapy.