Renal homotransplantation in children

Abstract

From 1964 through 1971, sixty-three transplantations were performed in fifty-four children under the age of eighteen at the University of California Medical Center, San Francisco. Thirty-two of the children received their first renal graft from a related donor and twenty-one from a cadaver donor. In the living related donor group, survival of first grafts was 90 per cent at one year, and in the cadaver donor group it was 67 per cent at one year. Ten patients died during the eight year period. Linear growth of children who had reached their adult height prior to transplantation was favorably influenced by changing the prednisone schedule from daily doses to doses every other day. By performing retransplantation if graft failure occurred, 80 per cent of the fifty-four patients now have functioning grafts up to eight years postoperatively. These results show that children with end stage renal disease are favorable candidates for renal transplantation.