A Historical Cohort in Kidney Transplantation: 55-Year Follow-Up of 72 HLA-Identical, Donor-Recipient Pairs

The impact of HLA matching on graft survival has been well characterized in renal transplantation, with a higher degree of matching associated with superior graft survival. Additionally, living donor grafts are known to confer superior survival compared to those from deceased donors. The purpose of this study is to report our multi-decade institutional experience and outcomes for patients who received HLA-identical living donor grafts, which represent the most favorable scenario in kidney transplantation. We conducted a retrospective analysis of these graft recipients performed at a Duke University Medical Center between the years of 1965 and 2002. The recipients demonstrated excellent graft and patient survival outcomes, superior to a contemporary cohort, with median patient and graft survival of 24.2 and 30.9 years, respectively, among Duke recipients vs. 16.1 and 16.0 years in a cohort derived from national data. This study offers a broad perspective on the importance of HLA matching and graft type, and demonstrates a historical best-case-scenario in renal transplantation.