Pre- and postoperative care of living relative patients for renal transplantation

Between 1966 and 1989, 54 kidney transplants were performed at our institute. We present our experience about pre- and postoperative care of the patients for renal transplantation. 1) Donors 1) Pre- and postoperative function of the kidneys and urinary tract must be evaluated carefully. Renal transplantation can be done successfully if preoperative renal function is good even if the donor is older than 60 years old. 2) Preoperative evaluation of the donor renal artery is necessary. Four kidneys with renal artery anomalies and one kidney with renal artery aneurysm were used for renal transplantation uneventfully after they were repaired. 2) Recipients 1) We had 4 recipients who demonstrated abnormality of the urinary tract. They all received successful renal transplantation after appropriate urological management before renal transplantation. 2) Imaging diagnostic technique is useful when graft function is deteriorated. Acute rejection can be diagnosed more objectively using renal scintiscan and echogram. They are also useful for early detection of postoperative urological complications. In this paper, the diagnostic strategy using various imaging techniques was outlined.