Obesity and listing for renal transplantation: weighing the evidence for a growing problem

Abstract

A 56-year-old female patient was referred to the transplant assessment clinic in July 2016. She started haemodialysis in 2012 for renal failure due to urinary tract infections. She is doing very well on dialysis and has an excellent exercise tolerance without shortness of breath or angina. She has had no infections since starting dialysis and no other comorbidity, except well-controlled hypertension and hyperparathyroidism requiring treatment with cinacalcet. Clinical examination is essentially normal except for truncal obesity with height 167 cm and weight 121 kg, giving her a body mass index of 43.4. Can she be listed for a renal transplant? If not, which target weight should be given to the patient before she can be transplant listed? Which interventions, if any, should be recommended to achieve weight loss?

Keywords: body mass index; obesity; renal transplantation.

Fig. 1

Intraoperative exposure in an obese recipient utilizing the Bookwalter retractor (courtesy of Dr Frank Dor, Imperial College Healthcare Trust, London, UK).

Fig. 2

Algorithm for transplant listing in obese recipients [65] (with permission).