Pediatric renal transplantation: single center experience.

Although renal transplantation (RTx) is actually the first choice of treatment for children with end-stage renal disease, the number of transplanted children remains low in comparison with adults. The experience of the individual pediatric transplant center is very important in the outcome of pediatric transplant recipients. In this study, our pediatric renal transplantation experience is presented. We retrospectively analyzed the results of 72 pediatric renal transplants performed at Ege University Pediatric Nephrology Transplantation Center between June 1989 and May 2003. They were 40 girls, 32 boys and their mean RTx age was 13.27+/-3.73 yr (range 3-20 yr). Thirty-eight (52.8%) of the transplanted kidneys came from a living related donor, and 34 (47.2%) from a cadaveric donor. Preemptive RTx was performed in one patient and a second RTx was performed in one patient after two-period hemodialysis. Hypertension (31.9%), acute rejection (27.8%) and chronic rejection (13.9%) were the most common complications. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection occurred in 15 children (20.8%), none of whom died or lost their graft as a result of the infection. Pretransplant acquired hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection was detected in 12 patients (16.7%). Urinary tract infections (UTIs) were seen in 31 (43.1%) recipients. The 1, 5 and 10 yr graft survival rates were 91, 84 and 77%, respectively, and corresponding patient survival rates were 97, 84 and 77%, respectively by Kaplan-Meier method. The graft and overall survival was not correlated with sex, donor type, treatment modality, acute rejection episodes, hypertension, UTIs, CMV and HCV infection.