Long-term results of pediatric kidney transplantation at one center in Turkey

Kidney transplantation is considered the treatment of choice for children with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). From November 1975 to June 2004, 80 of a total of 1477 kidney transplantations were performed in 78 pediatric patients. We retrospectively reviewed the records of 42 boys and 36 girls. Patient age ranged from 8 to 16 years (mean, 14.9 +/- 2.2). Sixty-three (78.7) grafts were from living donors and 17 (21.3%) from deceased donors. Two patients (2.6%) underwent preemptive transplantation, while 76 had preoperative renal replacement therapy with either hemodialysis in 62 (79.5%) or peritoneal dialysis in 14 (17.9%). Although the cause of ESRD could not be established in 30 cases, the other 48 showed the most common etiologies to be reflux nephropathy and glomerulonephritis. In conclusion, despite relatively poor socioeconomic conditions and health care problems in our country, the overall outcomes for pediatric patients at our transplantation center are good. We seek to perform more preemptive kidney transplantations in children with ESRD, and to increase our efforts to educate the Turkish public about organ transplantation and donation.