A Single-Center Nine-Year Experience in Pediatric Kidney Transplantation

Objective: The success rates of renal transplantation in pediatric age groups increased rapidly with the improvement of surgical technique, development of immunosuppressive drugs and the establishment of follow-up protocols specific to the pediatric age group and achieved the success rates of adult transplantation. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the results of pediatric renal transplants performed in our center in 9 years. Method: Between January 2010 and December 2018, 41 pediatric renal transplants were performed in our center. In our study, demographic data of donors and recipients, immunosuppressive treatment protocols applied to the recipients, post-transplant complications and renal functions of these donors were evaluated. Results: Mean age of the recipients was 13.44 ± 3.72 and 48.8% of the recipients were female. The mean follow-up period was 46.90 ± 30.04 months. During the follow-up period, no complications due to surgery developed. One patient (2.4%) had urologic complications requiring endoscopic intervention. One patient (2.4%) had sepsis-related mortality, one patient (2.4%) had recurrence of primary disease, and three patients (7.2%) had graft loss due to medical noncompliance. The mean age was 43.15 ± 9.28 years and 53.7% of the donors were female . During the follow-up, wound-related complications were observed in two patients (4.8%). There was no change in renal function detected.  Conclusions: The results of our study show that pediatric renal transplantation was performed safely and successfully in our center when compared with the literature data published from the studies conducted in centers with high number of patients and systematic reviews.