[Clinical evaluation of donor renal artery reconstruction in kidney transplantation]

This retrospective study describes the experience of arterial reconstruction of donor kidney in our institute since 1982.

Of total 56 living related kidney transplantations 15 required renal arterial reconstruction or ligation of donor kidneys. Renal arterial reconstruction was employed for 11 cases (end to side anastomosis [4 cases], conjoined anastomosis [3], hypogastric artery graft interposition [3], other [1], while simple ligation was employed for 4. Bench surgery with microsurgical techniques was employed for the repair. Elective surgery was done for preoperatively defined multiple renal arteries [10] and aneurysm [1], while imperative surgery for intraoperatively detected accessory arteries [2] and surgical injuries [2]. Postoperative patency of arteries and renal function (GFR) and evaluated by 99mTc-DTPA renoscintigraphy.

The mean total ischemic time of reconstructed cases was 135 min., while that of ligated ones was 67 min. None of them required hemodialysis due to acute tubular necrosis. Postoperative graft arterial patency was impaired in 2 of 11 reconstructed cases (18%), while it was impaired in 3 of 4 ligated cases (75%). Two failure attempts of arterial reconstruction cases were all imperative ones. Postoperative GFR of the graft was well preserved in all cases.

We conclude that (1) Ligation and imperative surgery tend to be associated with renal infarction, although it does not affect GFR. (2) Renal artery reconstruction was highly successful in preserving renal mass (or normal cortical image), albeit longer ischemic time than simple ligation. (3) Considering importance of preserved nephron mass in clinical renal transplantation every attempt should be made to repair the donor arterial anomalies when expected (elective) or found (imperative). (4) Thorough preoperative evaluation of donor renal arteries is mandatory.