Living donor kidney transplantation in pediatric recipients

Currently, kidney transplantation is the treatment of choice in children with end stage renal disease, showing higher survivals than dialysis and proper weight-height, social and psychological-intellectual development. The indications for transplantation have been extended with time, so that today the indication for kidney transplantation is set for end stage renal disease with symptoms that cannot be eliminated by conservative treatment. In the pediatric age, mainly in children under two years, living donor kidney transplantation is specially indicated because it has longer survival than cadaver donor kidneys. Complications may appear: rejection, high blood pressure, infections, neoplasias, adverse events related to immunosuppressive drugs, and primary renal disease recurrences, besides surgical complications. Five-year results have improved over the last 5 decades, being mortality lower than 5%. Graft survival may reach 90% for living donor kidneys and 17% for cadaver donor. Factors related to graft survival include age (worse in receptors under 2 yr.), pretransplant dialysis, acute rejection, and race (better in caucasians).