Successful transplantation of a kidney with early membranous nephropathy

This report describes a patient with end-stage renal disease secondary to long-standing type II diabetes mellitus who received a cadaveric renal transplant from a 37-year-old woman who died of massive cerebral infarction. An autopsy performed on the donor following organ procurement revealed no obvious contraindications to transplantation. A renal biopsy of the donor kidney performed at the time of transplantation, however, subsequently showed early membranous nephropathy by electron microscopy. There was immediate graft function and the recipient continues to have good renal function 3 years post-transplantation.