Simple Cysts in Donor Kidney Contribute to Reduced Allograft Function

Simple renal cysts may be an early marker of renal disease. We investigated whether simple cysts in donor kidney are associated with the decline of allograft function in living donor kidney transplantation.

We retrospectively reviewed records of donors and recipients from 716 living donor kidney transplants performed between April 2007 and April 2015 in our hospital. Ninety-one donors with renal cysts and 64 recipients with cysts in donor kidney were noted. We compared these 64 cases to 128 no cyst-bearing controls matched for the donor gender, recipient gender, donor baseline serum creatinine (sCr), donor/recipient body surface area ratio, donor age, recipient age and the date of kidney transplantation in turn.

The presence of cysts was interrelated with age, gender and renal function independently in donors. Pathological findings of time-zero biopsy revealed that donor kidney harboring cysts existed more glomerular sclerosis compared with no cyst-bearing controls (p = 0.040). The estimating glomerular filtration rate levels of recipients were 80.82 ± 26.61 vs. 88.21 ± 23.12, 66.95 ± 17.42 vs. 72.15 ± 16.42 and 60.92 ± 22.17 vs. 68.72 ± 14.43 ml/min· 1.73 m2 in cyst-bearing and no cyst-bearing group on day 7, month 6 and year 5, respectively, after surgery (p < 0.05). The mean sCr were 112.14 ± 48.32 vs. 98.75 ± 29.71 and 126.28 ± 42.32 vs. 115.05 ± 26.35 μmol/l on the 7th day and a half year after transplant, respectively (p < 0.05). The 2 groups did not significantly differ in terms of the other characteristics.

Simple cysts in donor kidney can influence the early and long-term allograft function. In living donor transplantation, kidney presenting cysts should be considered carefully at the time of donor selection.