Compensatory renal hypertrophy after donor nephrectomy

Renal length was measured radiographically in 65 living kidney donors, aged 27-69 years, who had undergone unilateral nephrectomy during the past 20 years. In 34 of these subjects, pre- and post-operative kidney length, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and blood pressure were available for analysis. Male donors developed greater compensatory hypertrophy than female donors. The extent of renal enlargement correlated negatively with the age of the subject at the time of nephrectomy and with the current mean arterial blood pressure. However, no correlation was found between the percentage change in renal length and either GFR or time since nephrectomy.