Successful Kidney Transplant From a Brain Stem-Dead Donor Due To Lethal Methanol Poisoning

Kidney replacement is the best treatment modality for chronic renal failure; however,the greatest obstacle for transplant is the scarce number of donor organs. In the United States and Europe, less than 1% of organs for transplant are provided from patients with lethal poisoning. In this paper, we present a successful kidney transplant from a donor with methanol poisoning. A 38-year-old-man who had methanol poisoning developed brain stem death after unsuccessful treatment and was a candidate to be a kidney donor for transplant to a 27-year-old male patient with chronic renal failure. Three weeks after kidney transplant, the recipient was discharged with good kidney function. We suggest that it may be possible to consider lethal methanol poisoning for kidney donation.