[Polycystic kidney treated by iterative hemodialysis and kidney transplantation. 25 cases]

Between January 1968 and December 1975, 25 patients (13 men and 12 women) were treated in the dialysis and transplantation unit of the Brugmann Hospital for terminal renal insufficiency secondary to polycystic disease. Nine patients (36%) underwent repeated surgery in order to ensure adequate successful vascular access for haemodialysis, whilst only 14.1% of patients suffering from renal insifficiency of another cause had to undergo operation on more than one occasion in order to be treated. In the majority of cases vasospasm was responsible for the obliteration of internal or external arterio-venous shunts. It was particularly common in women with a normal or low blood pressure. In this group, 3/4 of the patients needed several operations in order to make dialysis possible. Fourteen patients underwent bilateral nephrectomy. One death occurred in a patient who had received a renal transplant during the same operation. Fifteen kidney grafts were carried out and percentages of functional transplants at one and two years were 45.4 and 37.8% respectively. These poor results may be explained by the fact that 13 of our 15 patients were aged more than 40 years.