[Is there an age limit for organ donors?]. / Existe-t-il un âge limite pour le don d'organes?

Nowadays organ transplantations suffer from a lack of donors. Thus the waiting list of patients is constantly growing. Several ways to increase organ procurement are being evaluated. About 50% of cerebral deaths are related to vascular cerebral in patients older than 60 years. For the last few years, organs have been harvested from these patients despite their age. As the quality of the grafts is reduced, transplantation of one kidney may be insufficient whilst transplantation of the two kidneys to the same recipient is technically possible. We report here a case of a 44-year-old patient who was transplanted with two kidneys in September 2000. The donor was 85-year-old patient who died after prolonged cardiac arrest. Kidney biopsy showed a 16% rate of sclerotic glomeruli and mild interstitial fibrosis. The creatinine clearance estimated by the Cockcroft formula was 50 mL.min-1. The double kidney transplantation was successful, without any surgical or anaesthetic complication. Restoration of urine production was immediate. Three months after the transplantation, creatinine clearance was 80 mL.min-1. This observation gives the opportunity to discuss the criteria for organ harvesting in patients with cerebral death. Donor age should not remain anymore a systematic contra indication for kidney or liver donation. Renal function, macroscopic examination and histological findings seem more important for making a decision in taking the graft. Double transplantation, here the second case in France, has been performed for several years in other countries, and has permitted to expand the pool of donors, thus increasing the number of transplanted patients.

[Balloon catheter parieto-renal dilatation in percutaneous kidney surgery]. / La dilatation pariéto rénale au ballonnet dans la chirurgie percutanée du rein.

OBJECTIVE: To compare two techniques of parieto-renal dilatation for percutaneous surgery: Alken dilators and balloon catheter. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This prospective, non-randomized study was conducted between July 1999 and April 2000 in 20 patients undergoing percutaneous renal surgery. 10 patients were dilated with a balloon catheter (NephroMax, Boston Scientific) and the other 10 patients were dilated with Alken metal dilators. Statistical analysis was performed with the Mann-Whitney test. RESULT: The dilatation time and x-ray exposure time were shorter during balloon catheter dilatation (statistically significant difference) and the two techniques were associated with a comparable morbidity. CONCLUSION: Balloon catheter parieto-renal dilatation significantly decrease dilatation and x-ray exposure times and very considerably simplifies this operative step, essential to the success of percutaneous surgery.

[Laparoscopic resection of a bladder diverticulum]. / Résection laparoscopique d'un diverticule de vessie.

The authors report a case of laparoscopic resection of a bladder diverticulum performed at the same time as endoscopic treatment of its presumed cause. Dissection of the diverticulum, particularly its neck, and dissection of diverticula of the ureter and vas deferens are facilitated by magnification of the video image. This approach is only indicated in particular anatomical sites (posterior). The results of this technique must be compared with those of conventional treatments.

[Vesico-ureteral reimplantation on psoas bladder in lesions of the pelvic ureter. Review of 50 patients]. / Réimplantation urétéro-vésicale sur vessie psoïque dans les lésions de l'uretère pelvien. Revue de 50 patients.

Between 1979 and 1991, the authors performed 50 psoas bladder ureterovesical reimplantations for lesions of the pelvic ureter. 90% of very good results were obtained with this technique at the cost of a low morbidity. This series confirms the influence of previous pelvic radiotherapy on the postoperative complication rate. On the basis of the excellent results in this series, confirmed by those reported in the literature, this technique can be proposed as treatment of choice for lesions of the pelvic ureter when suture-resection or simple reimplantation cannot be performed after failure of endoluminal dilatation in patients with a life expectancy greater than 6 months to one year.

[Should adrenalectomy be performed systematically as part of radical nephrectomy for renal cancer? Review of 119 cases]. / La surrénalectomie doit-elle être systématique lors de la néphrectomie élargie pour cancer du rein? Revue de 119 dossiers.

Systematic histological examination of 119 operative specimens of radical nephrectomies performed for renal cell carcinoma revealed adrenal invasion in 6 cases (5.04%). Preoperative computed tomography visualised the adrenal lesions with a sensitivity of 100%. Adrenal involvement was due to either contiguous invasion (3 cases) or metastatic spread (3 cases). Other visceral or lymph node metastases were detected in every case. The mean survival of patients with an adrenal lesion was 16.5 months. These data and those reported in the literature suggest the value of systematic adrenalectomy as part of radical nephrectomy.