Donor-related secondary haemorrhage complicating renal transplantation

We report two cases of secondary haemorrhage in renal transplant recipients that would appear to relate to their common donor. Our experience confirms the inadequacy of arterial repair in this setting. One patient, a middle aged diabetic male, required excision of his external iliac artery, but recovered without reconstructive surgery. In the second case nephrectomy was performed on day 8 because of accelerated rejection. This was followed by recurrent sepsis due to E. coli, which was implicated in the previous case. Haemorrhage from the donor aortic wall patch occurred 3 weeks later. We now recommend that if secondary haemorrhage occurs, recipients of other organs from the donor should be carefully monitored for evidence of infection. If this is found and a similar organism cultured, consideration to transplant nephrectomy should be made with removal of all donor tissue to avoid the risk of subsequent secondary haemorrhage.