Renal transplantation with donors aged over 50: a long-term, single centreexperience

Background: Renal transplantation is now considered the best treatment for end-stage renal failure patients. In view of the worldwide growing waiting list, extending donor age is one of the strategies inplemented to make more kidneys available for transplantation. Methods: From October 1983 to February 2000, 324 renal transplantations wer e performed at Geneva University Hospital, 68 of which were done with kidne ys from donors aged over 50 (mean donor age 55.3 + 4.8 sears) The following data were analysed at 1, 5 and 10 years and compared between recipients wi th donors aged over 50 (> 50 years) and under 50 (< 50 years): actuarial pa tient and graft survival, serum creatinine, causes of graft loss. Results: Patient survival at 10 years was 83% with donors < 50 years and 61 % with donors > 50 years (non-significant), Graft survival at 10 years was 61% with donors < 50 years and 48% with donors > 50 years (non-significant) . Graft survival at 10 years or death with functioning graft was 69% with d onors < 50 years and 68% with donors > 50 years (non-significant). Overall, donor age was not a predictive factor for graft survival, as shown by mult iple logistic regression. Conclusion: Kidneys obtained from donors > 50 ye ars are suitable for renal transplantation and yield acceptable graft survival.