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Tau 08 02 141bv
Tau 08 02 141bv
Tau 08 02 141bv
Objective To determine the incidence of urological com- were three deaths associated directly or indirectly with
plications of renal transplantation at one institution, urological complications. There was no association
and relate this to donor and recipient factors. with recipient age, cadaveric vs living-donor trans-
Patients and methods A consecutive series of 1535 renal plants, or cold ischaemic times before organ reimplan-
transplants were audited, and a database of donor and tation, although the donor age was slightly higher in
recipient characteristics created for risk-factor analy- cases of urinary leak. There was no association with
sis. An unstented Leadbetter-Politano anastomosis was kidneys imported via the UK national organ-sharing
the preferred method of ureteric reimplantation. scheme vs the use of local kidneys. The management of
Results There were 45 urinary leaks, 54 primary ureteric these complications is discussed.
obstructions, nine cases of ureteric calculi, three blad- Conclusion The incidence of urological complications in
der stones and 19 cases of bladder outlet obstruction at this series has remained essentially unchanged for
some time after transplantation. The overall incidence 20 years. The causes of these complications and tech-
of urological complications was 9.2%, with that for uri- niques for their prevention are discussed.
nary leak or primary ureteric obstruction being 6.5%. Keywords renal transplantation, complications, aeti-
One graft was lost because of complications, and there ology
For purposes of chronological comparison, data are sis. A summary of the position and timing of urinary leaks,
subdivided into 1975–86 (transplants 1–600), 1986–91 with the subsequent management, is shown in Table 1.
(transplants 601–1000), and 1991–98 (transplants Minor leaks occurred early in four cases and were
1001–1535). Data relating to the early part of the series treated with re-catheterization or with observation alone.
were published previously [1,2]. Three cases were managed initially with nephrostomy
insertion, although two of these proceeded to ureteric
reimplantation.
Results
Thirty-seven cases required surgery; two with direct
perforation of the ureter at procurement or implantation
Urinary leak
were sutured over. Three cases of vesico-ureteric leakage
There were 45 cases of urinary leak, with a further three in the absence of necrosis were treated with open stent
recurrent cases after a first operative repair. The median insertion. The degree of ureteric vascular compromise and
(range) time to onset was 29 (0–275) days, with all but necrosis dictated the use of reimplantation (eight cases),
two cases before 120 days. No grafts were lost, although uretero-ureterostomy (three), uretero-pyelostomy (15) or
one death could be directly attributed to subsequent sep- Boari flap (two). Two cases of leakage through the anterior
Leakage
No site identified (1) 14 Death from cardiac arrest (1)
Upper ureter/collecting system (5) 24 (0–49) Conservative (1)
Retrograde stent (1)
Open closure of defect in renal pelvis (1)
Open closure of renal pelvis and stent (1)
Uretero-ureterostomy (1)
Lower ureter (14) 21 (0–266) Nephrostomy (1)
Open drainage (1)
Open stent insertion (3)
Reimplantation (3)
Native ureteropyelostomy (2)
Uretero-ureterostomy (3)
Boari flap (1)
Bladder (6) 47 (0–357) Prolonged catheter drainage (3)
Percutaneous drainage (1)
Repair of vesical defect (2)
Ureteric necrosis (19) 35 (7–70) Reimplantation (5)
Native ureteropyelostomy (13)
Boari flap (1)
Obstruction
Upper/PUJ (10) 350 (35–1610) Antegrade stent (4)
Ureteric dilatation (1)
Pyeloplasty (1)
Division of obstructing vessel (1)
Native ureteropyelostomy (3)
Middle (10) 56 (1–1120) Antegrade stent (3)
Retrograde stent (1)
Open exploration (1) and stent (1)
Native ureteropyelostomy (2)
Uretero-ureterostomy (2)
Lower/VUJ (33) 110 (1–2800) Nephrostomy (2)
Antegrade stent (6)
Balloon dilatation (2)
Endoscopic excision of suture (1)
Native ureteropyelostomy (2)
Reimplantation (20)
Method of retrieval
Imported 149 4.7 3.4
Local 386 3.4 1.8
Donor
Cadaveric 55 5.4 1.8
Living-related 480 3.5 2.3
Mean (SD):
donor age, years 41.25 (14.7) 45.8 (11.0)* 40.3 (14.5)
cold ischaemic time, min 1517 (488) 1650 (598) 1064 (286)†
Ref. Year Number of transplants Vesico-ureteric anastomosis Ureteric stents Urinary leaks, % Ureteric obstruction, %
and how changes in practice may reduce the rate of com- 1986–1998, although the present data showed no asso-
plications further. ciation between recipient age and complication rate.
An initial dramatic reduction in urological complica- There was no association with primary disease and
tions at our unit (16% in the first 207 cases vs 5% in the particularly no increased incidence of complications in
next 400) was attributed to the change from high- to diabetic patients.
low-dose steroid-based immunosuppressive regimens, and
the rate has changed little since then. As will be discussed,
Surgical
this may in fact mask an underlying trend towards safer
surgery. Technical considerations are of the utmost importance in
the incidence of urological complications. Disruption of
the ureteric normal blood supply at retrieval dictates that
Causal factors in urological complications
the remaining arterial and venous supply from the renal
Most urological complications are a result of technical vessels and lower polar branches must be preserved by
errors at retrieval or reimplantation, or failure of tissue minimal peri-ureteric dissection, especially in the so-
healing, influenced by ischaemia, inflammation, infec- called ‘golden triangle’ between the ureter, kidney and
tion, immunosuppression and antiproliferative agents, renal artery. Even so, the distal ureter is prone to
and the nutritional state of the recipient. Four main ischaemia. In living-related kidney donation, less aggres-
categories of factors are considered, i.e. donor, recipient, sive preservation of the blood supply may be possible. In
technical and medical. our unit 10% of transplants in this series were from living
donors, with 12.5% of potentially ischaemic complica-
tions involved this subgroup. Thus no link is confirmed.
Donor
This is in agreement with most large series of living-donor
The donor’s age and pre-existing comorbidity will influ- transplants, which report little effect on the incidence of
ence the potential function of the transplanted organs, urological complications [5,12].
and their ability to withstand the insult of ischaemia and Iatrogenic injury, the cause of two leaks in the present
reperfusion. Once a decision is made to offer organs for series, must be avoided during bench dissection. Minimiz-
transplantation, every effort must be made to preserve the ing warm ischaemic time is crucial. Dissection is carried
donor in an optimal state, with periods of hypotension, out on ice and the organ may be contained in an ice-filled
inotrope support or prolonged stay in the intensive treat- receptacle, e.g. a rubber glove, during the vascular anas-
ment unit all affecting the quality of the organs in the tomosis. This has been shown to maintain the core tem-
short- and possibly long-term. Retrieval surgery should perature of the kidney at < 10°C for protracted periods
thus proceed at the earliest appropriate opportunity. [20]. There was no association between cold ischaemic
The increasing pressure on transplant waiting lists will time or origin of the kidney (local vs from the national
undoubtedly lead to more marginal donors being consid- organ-sharing scheme) and the incidence of urological
ered. The eventual effect of this tendency has yet to be complication.
evaluated, although in the last 8 years, the donor age for Ureteric reimplantation is where most interest has been
the present cases of urinary leak is slightly higher than for focused in recent years, particularly for the type of vesico-
the whole population over the same period. Long-term ureteric anastomosis constructed and the use of prophy-
graft survival is strongly correlated with donor-recipient lactic ureteric stents. In nearly all cases in the present
HLA mismatch, e.g. in the data from the UNOS and series a Leadbetter-Politano submucosal tunnelled anas-
UKTSSA registries [18,19]. This is of course a result of a tomosis was used [21]. This has been suggested to lower
combination of acute and chronic rejection. Loughlin the incidence of ureteric reflux over conventional extra-
et al. [5] reported no correlation of urological complica- vesical procedures [21,22], particularly important if the
tions with HLA mismatch, but this series had an overall patient has recurrent UTIs. In the present series one case
rate higher (13.2%) than that of most recently published of symptomatic reflux was identified in a patient with
series. recurrent pyelonephritis, successfully treated with ure-
teric reimplantation. More recent modifications of the
extravesical approach, including a short muscular tunnel
Recipient
over the ureteric tip in an attempt to prevent reflux, have
The increasing availability of dialysis services and lead to the technique being shown in several series to pro-
improved medical management of chronic renal failure duce fewer ureteric obstructions [6,23–25]. Ischaemic
have lead to an increase in the age of recipients of renal strictures are probably reduced through the shorter
transplants in the present series, from a mean of length of ureter required, and extrinsic compression from
37.8 years in 1975–1986 to 46.7 years at operation in the submucosal tunnel is also avoided. The operating time
screening before transplantation reported incidences of 7 Kashi SH, Lodge JP, Giles GR, Irving HC. Ureteric complica-
occult tumours of 6% and 9% in patients with acquired tions of renal transplantation. Br J Urol 1992; 70: 139–43
renal cystic disease (1.5–2% in all patients presenting for 8 Gibbons WS, Barry JM, Hefty TR. Complications following
transplantation) [37,38], but no survival benefit has been unstented parallel incision extravesical ureteroneocys-
tostomy in 1,000 kidney transplants. J Urol 1992; 148: 38–
shown by screening. Our current practice is not to screen
40
for the condition but to investigate urological symptoms
9 Benoit G, Blanchet P, Moukarzel M et al. Surgical complica-
according to standard practice. tions in kidney transplantation. Transplant Proc 1994; 26:
The incidence of prostate cancer after renal transplan- 287–8
tation has probably been underestimated because there is 10 Keller H, Noldge G, Wilms H, Kirste G. Incidence, diagnosis,
little screening. This may be of increasing importance and treatment of ureteric stenosis in 1298 renal transplant
with an ageing transplant population and the increasing patients. Transpl Int 1994; 7: 253–7
longevity of grafts. The natural history of the disease in 11 Rigg KM, Proud G, Taylor RM. Urological complications fol-
this population is unknown, especially important as the lowing renal transplantation. A study of 1016 consecutive
low serum testosterone levels often seen with chronic transplants from a single centre. Transpl Int 1994; 7: 120–6
renal failure may be returned to normal with good renal 12 Koga S, Tanabe K, Yagisawa TT, Toma H. Urological compli-
cations in renal transplantation. Transplant Proc 1996; 28:
graft function. The relative benefits of various treatment
1472–3
methods are likely to remain uncertain amongst trans-
13 Cimic J, Meuleman EJ, Oosterhof GO, Hoitsma AJ. Urological
plant patients, and thus with no evidence to the contrary, complications in renal transplantation. A comparison
they should be treated according to standard guidelines. between living-related and cadaveric grafts. Eur Urol 1997;
Men age > 50 years, who may have no urinary symptoms 31: 433–5
if oliguric, should be considered for a DRE and serum PSA 14 Makisalo H, Eklund B, Salmela K et al. Urological complica-
test before transplantation. tions after 2084 consecutive kidney transplantations. Trans-
plant Proc 1997; 29: 152–3
15 Junjie M, Jian X, Lixin Y, Xiwen B. Urological complications
Conclusion and effects of double-J catheter in ureterovesical anastomosis
The major urological complication rate was 6.5% over the after cadaveric kidney transplantation. Transplant Proc 1998;
first 1535 cases of renal transplantation at our centre, and 30: 3013–4
has remained constant for about the last 20 years. Causal 16 Kumar A, Verma BS, Srivastava A, Bhandari M, Gupta A,
Sharma R. Evaluation of the urological complications of
factors were identified and possible changes in practice
living related renal transplantation at a single center during
suggested, the results of which will be apparent over the
the last 10 years: impact of the Double-J stent. J Urol 2000;
next decade. With increasing experience of minimally 164: 657–60
invasive endoscopic and uroradiological techniques, 17 El-Mekresh M, Osman Y, Ali-El-Dein B, El-Diasty T, Ghoneim
the management of complications may be set to change MA. Urological complications after living-donor renal trans-
simultaneously. plantation. BJU Int 2001; 87: 295–306
18 Cecka JM. The UNOS Scientific Renal Transplant Registry.
Clin Transpl 1998: 1–16
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