[Urinary tract infections after kidney transplantation]

Clinical significance of urinary tract infections (UTI) after kidney transplantation was studied in 57 cases. Of these patients, the UTI occurred in 63% of cases during follow-up after transplantation. Although the bacteriuria were observed more frequently in living-related donor (LD) group at pre-operation, cadaveric donor (CD) group showed significantly higher frequency in bacteriuria and UTI after transplantation. The initial UTI occurred within 4 weeks after transplantation in 86% of cases. The significant risk factors in the occurrence of UTI were presence of bacteriuria in post-operation, CD group, mismatch numbers in HLA, amount of steroid, and ages of donor and recipient. Of the bacteria isolated, about half were pathogens in UTI, which was a 2 times higher risk compared with the time of chronic hemodialysis. Gram negative rods were found to be major pathogen in UTI cases. The effect of UTI on graft survival was not obvious. However, of the patients who have bacteriuria at operation, 52% were found to have bacteriuria due to the same strain during follow-up. Therefore, bacteriological examination of urine at transplantation must be done carefully.