Living donor kidney transplantation: analysis of the first 40 cases performed in UZ Leuven

Living donation kidney transplantation has been popular worldwide to try to increase the donor pool. In Belgium, the rate of living donation kidney transplantation has been traditionally relatively low compared to other countries. This is--in part--due to the relatively higher cadaveric organ offer that is available in Belgium (around 25 donors per million inhabitants), compared to other countries. However, the increasing waiting times on cadaveric waiting list and the superiority of the results of live donation versus cadaveric kidney transplantation have led to a reappraisal of this strategy. In our center a living donation kidney transplant programme was started in 1997. Since then 40 cases of live donation kidney transplantation have been performed and are reported herein.