Thirty potential living related kidney donors with asymptomatic micros
copic hematuria of nonsurgical causes were entered in this study. They
underwent thorough history taking, medical and ENT examination, labor
atory and radiologic assessment and pure-tone audiometry. Family membe
rs were also subjected to urine analysis and audiometry. Moreover, the
30 donors were subjected to kidney biopsies which were examined by li
ght microscopy, direct and indirect immunofluorescent microscopy, and
electron microscopy. Hereditary nephritis (with or without sensorineur
al deafness) was found to be the most common cause of asymptomatic mic
roscopic hematuria (25/30), followed by isolated C3 deposits disease (
3/30), IgA nephropathy (1/30) and IgM nephropathy (1/30). Since these
disease conditions are of a progressive nature, we have concluded that
relatives of uremic patients with asymptomatic microscopic hematuria
should not be considered for kidney donation even if they are strongly
motivated.