Are there any relations among transplant centre volume, surgical technique and anatomy for donor graft selection? Ten-year multicentric Italian experience on mini-invasive living donor nephrectomy.

Background: Selection of the right or left living donor kidney for transplantation is influenced by many variables. In the present multi centric study including 21 Italian transplant centres, we evaluated whether centre volume or surgical technique may influence the selection process.

Methods: Intra- and perioperative donor data, donor kidney function, and recipient and graft survival were collected among 693 mini-invasive living donor nephrectomies performed from 2002 to 2014.

KIR and their HLA Class I ligands: Two more pieces towards completing the puzzle of chronic rejection and graft loss in kidney transplantation.

Background: Kidney transplantation is a life-saving treatment for patients with end-stage renal disease. However, despite progress in surgical techniques and patient management, immunological rejection continues to have a negative impact on graft function and overall survival. Incompatibility between donors and recipients for human leukocyte antigens (HLA) of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) generates a series of complex cellular and humoral immune response mechanisms that are largely responsible for rejection and loss of graft function.

First Robotic-Assisted Dual Kidney Transplant: Surgical Technique and Report of a Case With 24-month Follow-up.

Background: Open surgery is the gold standard procedure for kidney transplantation. There is a strong rationale for using minimally invasive surgery in patients with end-stage renal disease. A robotic-assisted dual kidney transplant was performed for the first time at our institution.

Role of human leukocyte antigen-G 14-base pair polymorphism in kidney transplantation outcomes.

Background: Both the membrane-bound and soluble forms of human leukocyte antigen-G (HLA-G) molecules exhibit a multitude of immunomodulatory properties that can potentially obviate or delay graft rejection. The 14-base pair (14-bp) polymorphism in the 3'-untranslated region of the HLA-G gene is thought to have a role in soluble HLA-G (sHLA-G) expression.

Methods: In this study, we retrospectively investigated a large cohort of 418 kidney transplant recipients with the aim of establishing whether the HLA-G 14-bp insertion/deletion polymorphism could serve as an effective genetic risk marker for acute and/or chronic deterioration of transplanted kidney function.

Fibromuscular dysplasia causing renal artery aneurysm and renovascular hypertension: a case report.

Objective: Renal artery aneurysm is a rare disease and usually is due to fibromuscular dysplasia. We describe a case in a woman who had renovascular hypertension due to aneurysm of fibromuscular dysplasia-associated renal artery.

Material And Methods: The clinical presentation, renal function, radiologic data, complications and treatment were studied.

Primary obstructive megaureter in adults: management strategy in a young woman.

Objective: Primary obstructive megaureter is an uncommon disease in adults. We describe a case in a thirty years old woman affected by monolateral megaureter complicated by ureteric calculi.

Material And Method: The clinical presentation, renal function, radiologic data, complications and treatment were studied.

Ablation of non functioning renal allograft by embolization: a valid alternative to graft nephrectomy?

Objective: Removal of transplant for the treatment of graft intolerance syndrome (GIS) is an invasive procedure with high risk, often performed in patients with poor general conditions. Renal allograft embolization is a recent alternative treatment to surgical nephrectomy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of allograft embolization in a series of patients with GIS.

Embolization of a hypoplastic kidney with a vaginal ectopic ureter in a case of pseudo-incontinence.

Ureteral ectopy into the vagina is a cause of pseudo-incontinence. When the corresponding kidney has a good function, the treatment of choice is the ureter reimplantation, otherwise the alternative is partial or total nephrectomy. To report a case of 18-year-old girl presented with urinary leakage occurring between normal voids that at 11-year-old was found to have, at cistoscopy and vaginoscopy, an left ureteral ectopy into the vagina with a non demonstrable corresponding kidney at conventional intravenous urography, dimercaptosuccinic acid scintigraphy and ultrasonography.