The living kidney donation process: the donor perspective.

Objective: To evaluate the living kidney donation (LKD) process using donors' opinions on the impact on social, emotional, and financial aspects affecting donor quality of life.

Materials And Methods: From May 2000 to December 2002, we studied 22 donors of living kidneys at the Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain, who completed an anonymous survey 6 months after donation.

Results: Most donors (86%) had themselves informed the recipient about their wish to donate, the other 14% were asked by family members.

Cyclosporine's effect on insulin secretion in patients with kidney transplants.

Adverse effects of cyclosporine on glucose metabolism have been reported in patients with kidney transplantation, but steroids were present in all the immunosuppressive schedules evaluated. We have studied endocrine pancreatic function (OGTT measuring plasma insulin [IRI] and c-peptide [CP]) in 3 groups of patients, matched for age and body-mass index, 16-66 months after functioning Ktx. Seven patients were treated with CsA monotherapy (group I), 7 patients with CsA plus prednisone (group II), and 6 patients with azathioprine plus prednisone (group III).