Deceased donor renal transplantation--does side matter?

BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to determine whether the deceased donor kidney side (left or right kidney) was predictive of subsequent kidney transplant outcomes. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was undertaken of the left-right deceased donor kidney pairs transplanted into recipients with end-stage renal failure in Queensland between 1 April 1994 and 31 March 2004. RESULTS: A total of 201 left-right deceased donor kidney pairs were transplanted into 402 patients. The baseline characteristics of the recipients in the two groups were comparable, except that the patients receiving right kidneys had lower body mass indices and shorter cold ischaemic times. No differences were seen between the left and right kidney recipient groups with respect to operative duration (3.02 +/- 0.67 vs 3.12 +/- 0.72 h, P = 0.16), warm ischaemic time (0.62 +/- 0.18 vs 0.65 +/- 0.21, P = 0.09), delayed graft function (4 vs 6%, respectively, P = 0.26) or a composite vascular, haemorrhagic, ureteric and infective post-operative complication end-point (22 vs 22%, P = 0.90). Estimated glomerular filtration rates were almost identical at 1 month (52.7 +/- 39.6 vs 51.0 +/- 24.0 ml/min/1.73 m(2), P = 0.34) and remained comparable thereafter. Respective death-censored graft survival rates for left and right kidney recipients were 100 and 100% at 1 year, 99.4 and 96.4% at 3 years and 96.3 and 95.5% at 5 years, respectively (P = 0.67). CONCLUSIONS: Although left and right deceased donor kidneys present different operative challenges, the present results suggest that the probability of early post-operative complications, delayed graft function, impaired early and medium-term renal allograft function or death-censored graft failure is comparable between left and right kidney recipients.

A randomized controlled trial of fludrocortisone for the treatment of hyperkalemia in hemodialysis patients.

BACKGROUND: Previous small uncontrolled studies suggested that fludrocortisone may significantly decrease serum potassium concentrations in hemodialysis patients, possibly through enhancement of colonic potassium secretion. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of oral fludrocortisone on serum potassium concentrations in hyperkalemic hemodialysis patients in an open-label randomized controlled trial. METHODS: Thirty-seven hemodialysis patients with predialysis hyperkalemia were randomly allocated to administration of either oral fludrocortisone (0.1 mg/d; n = 18) or no treatment (control; n = 19) for 3 months. The primary outcome measure was midweek predialysis serum potassium concentration, which was measured monthly during the trial. Prospective power calculations indicated that the study had an 80% probability of detecting a decrease in serum potassium levels of 0.7 mEq/L (0.7 mmol/L). RESULTS: Baseline patient characteristics were similar, except for slightly longer total weekly dialysis hours in the fludrocortisone group (13.0 +/- 1.3 versus 12.1 +/- 1.0; P = 0.02). At the end of the study period, no significant changes in serum potassium concentrations were observed between the fludrocortisone and control groups (4.8 +/- 0.5 versus 5.2 +/- 0.7 mEq/L [mmol/L], respectively; P = 0.10). Similar results were obtained when changes in serum potassium levels over time were examined between the 2 arms by using repeated-measures analysis of variance, with or without adjustment for total weekly dialysis hours. Secondary outcomes, including predialysis mean arterial pressure, interdialytic weight gain, serum sodium level, and hospitalization for hyperkalemia, were not significantly different between groups. There were no observed adverse events. CONCLUSION: Administering fludrocortisone to hyperkalemic hemodialysis patients is safe and well tolerated, but does not achieve clinically important decreases in serum potassium levels.