Donor Calculi Induced Acute Renal Failure

Nephrolithiasis is an infrequent complication following renal transplantation and acquisition of a stone with the donor kidney is rare. Indeed only a few cases of donor stones causing renal failure have been reported. Since the grafted kidney is denervated, stone disease may not present with the classic renal colic but rather with acute renal failure secondary to the obstruction. Identification of the precise cause is critical in order to avoid inappropriate therapy. We present our experience of two renal transplant patients who developed obstructive uropathy by stones originating from the donor kidneys.

Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night filled mountain, in itself forms a world.

—Albert Camus (The myth of Sisyphus)