Outcomes of Spousal versus Parental Donor Kidney Transplants: A Comparative Study

Parents and spouse constitute 70% of organ donors in India. Some centres use induction immunosuppression (IS) for all spousal transplants considering it as an immunologically high risk. This study was designed to compare the outcomes of transplant recipients who received parental donors (PDs) and spousal donors (SDs) without any induction IS.

It was a retrospective study conducted at a tertiary care hospital in South India. Adults aged 18 years or above who underwent renal transplantation from a SD or PD between January 2006 and December 2016 were included in the study.

Our study included 154 patients with PDs and 75 patients with SDs. The mean recipient age of the PD group was 27.79 ± 6.85 years and of the SD group was 45.62 ± 7.96 years (P < 0.001). However, the follow-up period was significantly higher for the PD group (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between acute rejection, patient loss, mean survival, graft survival (uncensored), and death censored graft survival between two groups.

The outcomes of immunologically low-risk transplant recipients who have received PD and SD are similar and induction immunosuppression can be avoided in these patients.