Transplantation and the Abnormal Bladder
The ability of the urinary bladder to store urine at low pressure and to empty completely at intervals with simultaneous relaxation of the sphincter complex is essential to preserve the…
Perioperative Care of Patients Undergoing Kidney Transplantation
The first description of anesthesia for kidney transplantation (KTx) appeared in the early 1960s. It details the pioneering efforts in Boston with living related KTx between identical twins. The only…
Histocompatibility in Renal Transplantation
Historical Background The study of histocompatibility accelerated during the 1960s when the pioneers of clinical kidney transplantation recognized that graft destruction was mediated through immunologic mechanisms. In 1961 the introduction…
Donor Nephrectomy
Deceased Donor Nephrectomy Deceased donor renal donation predominates as the source of transplantable kidneys. In the US, deceased donors provide approximately 13,000 kidneys per year or 70% of the available…
Kidney Preservation
Introduction At the start of the first transplant programs, the donor and recipient would be operated in the same surgical center. The only preservation method therefore undertaken would be to…
Access for Renal Replacement Therapy
Introduction Worldwide the population of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) is expanding, leading to increasing numbers of patients hitting end-stage renal failure (ESRF) and requiring renal replacement therapy (RRT)….
Medical Evaluation of the Living Donor
History of Living Donation and Donor-Related Ethics The first long-term successful organ transplant was a living donor kidney transplant between monozygotic twin brothers performed in 1954 at the Peter Bent…
Brain Death and Cardiac Death: Donor Criteria and Care of Deceased Donor
Introduction As the number of people awaiting organ transplantation grows yearly, the relative scarcity of available organs increasingly requires a standardized, evidence-based approach to the management of each donor. From…
The Recipient of a Renal Transplant
The Patient with Chronic Kidney Disease The insidious nature of progressive uremia deludes many patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) into failing to take the opportunity to understand their disease;…
The Immunology of Transplantation
Introduction Solid organ transplant requires the removal of an organ from one individual, the donor, and its placement in the recipient. Whether the donor is living or deceased, this process…
