A single-center experience of renal transplantation in elderly patients

Abstract

Background: We retrospectively reviewed the results of renal transplantation in patients over 60 years of age at our center.

Material/methods: A retrospective study was conducted of 212 Bahraini patients receiving renal transplants from January 1979 to December 2007. All medical records were reviewed for demographic data, graft function and survival. Patient and graft survival was compared for patients above and below the age of 60.

Results: Seventeen patients >60 years with a mean age of 64.1+/-3.6 years at the time of transplantation. Diabetic nephropathy (52%) was the most common causes of end-stage renal disease. Mean donor age was 26+/-6 years and most of them were unrelated (82%). Of the elderly patients, 4 died: 3 with a functioning graft, 1 within one year of transplantation. Cardiovascular causes (3 patients, 75%) were the most common cause of death. Causes of graft loss were death with a functioning graft (4) and chronic rejection (1). Cox's proportional-hazards regression analysis showed on univariate analysis that pre-transplant hypertension, diabetes mellitus and vascular surgery (CABG) before transplant significantly affected the dependent variable of graft loss. Multivariate analysis did not show these variables to be significant. Kaplan Meier patient survival curves showed statistically significant differences between study (>60 years) and control (18-59 years) patients (p=0.04) at 10 year.

Conclusions: We conclude that Patients older than 60 yr of age can be transplanted safely and successfully, especially when they are properly screened for the presence of significant risk factors such as severe cardiovascular disease and diabetes.