Single kidney transplantation from pediatric deceased donors in China: the outcomes and risk factors of graft survival

Mingchuan Huang; Wenrui Wu; Qiang Zhang; Jun Li; Huanxi Zhang; Chenglin Wu; Qian Fu; Shenghui Wu; Yanxu Chen; Jianming Li; Xiaojun Su; Longshan Liu; Changxi Wang

doi:10.21037/tp-22-547

Single kidney transplantation from pediatric deceased donors in China: the outcomes and risk factors of graft survival

Transl Pediatr. 2022 Nov;11(11):1872-1885. doi: 10.21037/tp-22-547.

Authors

Mingchuan Huang^#¹, Wenrui Wu^#¹, Qiang Zhang^#¹, Jun Li¹, Huanxi Zhang¹, Chenglin Wu¹, Qian Fu¹, Shenghui Wu¹, Yanxu Chen¹, Jianming Li¹, Xiaojun Su¹, Longshan Liu¹, Changxi Wang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Organ Transplant Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
² Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Organ Donation and Transplant Immunology, Guangzhou, China.
³ Guangdong Provincial International Cooperation Base of Science and Technology (Organ Transplantation), Guangzhou, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Pediatric deceased donors offer great potential for expanding the organ donor pool. The utilization of pediatric donor kidneys has been explored by numerous transplant centers; however, the transplant outcome and risk factors have not been well elucidated. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the safety and risk factors of transplant outcome from pediatric deceased donors.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 484 cases of single kidney transplantation (SKT) with pediatric donor kidneys performed at our center from January 2012 to March 2021. The recipients were grouped by age: child (≤12 years; n=143), adolescents (12-18 years; n=86), and adults (≥18 years; n=255). The overall prognosis of the recipients was analyzed, and the post-transplant outcomes were compared among the three groups and assessed by univariate and multivariate analyses using the Cox proportional risk model.

Results: The median follow-up time was 26.7 months. The 1- and 3-year patient survival rates were 98.7% and 96.8%, respectively. The 1- and 3-year death-censored graft survival (DCGS) was 96.1% and 92.7%, respectively. The overall estimated glomerular filtration rates (eGFRs) at 1 and 3 years were 80.0±24.5 and 84.2±25.2 mL/min/1.73 m²; the 3-year eGFR of the three groups were comparable and all were over 80 mL/min/1.73 m². Rejection was an independent risk factor for death-censored graft failure within 3 years after transplantation [hazard ratio (HR) =3.85; P=0.001], and was the primary cause of graft losses in the adolescent group. Thrombosis was more common within 1-month post-transplant in the child recipients (P<0.05), and its incidence was higher in recipients with donor body weight (DBW) ≤11 kg.

Conclusions: SKT from pediatric donors could achieve decent outcomes. Rejection was an independent risk factor of graft survival, especially for adolescent recipients. Child recipients may compromise early transplant outcomes due to vascular thrombosis, which might be related to small (DBW ≤11 kg) pediatric donors.

Keywords: Kidney transplantation; pediatric donor; rejection; survival analysis; vascular thrombosis.