Surgical Complications in Early Post-transplant Kidney Recipients

The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of early surgical complications of kidney transplantation in our institution and its association with donor and recipient factors, as well as patient and transplant outcome.

A retrospective cohort study of all kidney transplants performed during 2015 was made. We evaluated the incidence of surgical complications and the outcome of patients and grafts at a 3-month follow-up interval.

During the study period, 141 kidney transplants occurred. Seventeen patients had surgical complications (6 urologic, 6 vascular, and 5 other complications). Five patients lost the graft during the follow-up. Older age was associated with other surgical complications (P = .023), and graft loss was associated with the existence of surgical complications, namely, vascular complications (P <.001). For both surgical complications in general and urologic complications, a statistically significant relationship was found with patient weight (P = .003 and P = .034, respectively). The correlation between body mass index (BMI) and surgical complications was not statistically significant.

Our study reveals that older and heavier patients have a higher risk of surgical complications and that vascular complications are associated with graft loss. A statistically significant relationship was not found between BMI and surgical complications, which could indicate that BMI is not the ideal obesity marker. The incidence of surgical complications found in our study is similar to the literature. The selection of transplant recipients is a difficult task, and the possibility of additional surgical complications in older and overweight patients should be taken into account.