Standard work-up of the low-risk kidney transplant candidate: a European expert survey of the ERA-EDTA Developing Education Science and Care for Renal Transplantation in European States Working Group.

Background: Existing guidelines on the evaluation and preparation of recipients for kidney transplantation target the entire spectrum of patients with end-stage renal disease. Within the ERA-EDTA Developing Education Science and Care for Renal Transplantation in European States (DESCARTES) Working Group, it was proposed that in a subset of relatively young patients (<40 years) without significant comorbidities (such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease), the work-up for transplantation could be restricted to a small set of tests.

Methods: Aiming for agreement between transplant centres across Europe, we surveyed the opinion of 80 transplant professionals from 11 European states on the composition of a minimal work-up.

Results: We show that there is a wide agreement among European experts that the work-up for kidney transplantation of the low-risk candidate, as opposed to the standard risk candidate, could include a limited number of investigations. However, there is some disagreement regarding the small number of diagnostic procedures, which is related to geographical location within Europe and the professional background of respondents.

Conclusions: Based on the results of the survey, published guidelines and expert meetings by the DESCARTES Working Group, we have formulated a proposal for the work-up of low-risk kidney transplant candidates.