Are Elderly Donors Good Alternatives for Kidney Transplantation While Kidney Transplant Waiting Lists Are Widening?

Abstract

Background: Kidney donors who are elderly, who have obesity, hypertension, previous malignancy, proteinuria and kidney stones are called complex living donors. Elderly donors have smaller kidney sizes, less glomerular filtration rate and more glomerulosclerosis. But the list of patients waiting for kidney transplantation is widening, so we need to use elderly donors for kidney transplantation. Aim: In this study we wanted to see the effect of donor age on graft function and we made a retrospective study including elderly donors in transplantation center. Patients and Method: This randomized study included 104 adult kidney transplant recipients whose donors were older than 65 years old (Group I) and 95 adult kidney transplant recipients whose donors were younger than 65 years old (Group 2). Demographic features, delayed graft function rates, hospitilization days of donors and clinical parameters regarding levels of serum creatinine on 1, 30, 180 day, first year and second year of transplant were compared between the two groups. Results: Delayed graft function ratio of Group 1 was higher than Group 2 but it was not statistically significiant (p=0.554). 30th, 180th day, first year and second year creatinine level of Group 1 was significiantly higher than Group 2. Conclusion: In our study, the creatinine level of recipients of elderly donors were higher than recipients of younger donors, but there was no statistically significant difference in terms of delayed graft function between the two groups. Our data reveals that individuals over 65 years of age may be suitable donors after careful evaluation of kidney function.