Commercial kidney transplantation is an important risk factor in long-term kidney allograft survival.

Transplant tourism, a form of transplant commercialization, has resulted in serious short-term adverse outcomes that explain reduced short-term kidney allograft survival. However, the nature of longer-term outcomes in commercial kidney transplant recipients is less clear. To study this further, we identified 69 Canadian commercial transplant recipients of 72 kidney allografts transplanted during 1998 to 2013 who reported to our transplant center for follow-up care. Their outcomes to 8 years post-transplant were compared with 702 domestic living donor and 827 deceased donor transplant recipients during this period using Kaplan-Meier survival plots and multivariate Cox regression analysis. Among many complications, notable specific events included hepatitis B or C seroconversion (7 patients), active hepatitis and/or fulminant hepatic failure (4 patients), pulmonary tuberculosis (2 patients), and a type A dissecting aortic aneurysm. Commercial transplantation was independently associated with significantly reduced death-censored kidney allograft survival (hazard ratio 3.69, 95% confidence interval 1.88-7.25) along with significantly delayed graft function and eGFR 30 ml/min/1.73 m(2) or less at 3 months post-transplant. Thus, commercial transplantation represents an important risk factor for long-term kidney allograft loss. Concerted arguments and efforts using adverse recipient outcomes among the main premises are still required in order to eradicate transplant commercialization.

New-onset diabetes mellitus after kidney transplantation: Current status and future directions.

A diagnosis of new-onset diabetes after transplantation (NODAT) carries with it a threat to the renal allograft, as well as the same short- and long-term implications of type 2 diabetes seen in the general population. NODAT usually occurs early after transplantation, and is usually diagnosed according to general population guidelines. Non-modifiable risk factors for NODAT include advancing age, African American, Hispanic, or South Asian ethnicity, genetic background, a positive family history for diabetes mellitus, polycystic kidney disease, and previously diagnosed glucose intolerance. Modifiable risk factors for NODAT include obesity and the metabolic syndrome, hepatitis C virus and cytomegalovirus infection, corticosteroids, calcineurin inhibitor drugs (especially tacrolimus), and sirolimus. NODAT affects graft and patient survival, and increases the incidence of post-transplant cardiovascular disease. The incidence and impact of NODAT can be minimized through pre- and post-transplant screening to identify patients at higher risk, including by oral glucose tolerance tests, as well as multi-disciplinary care, lifestyle modification, and the use of modified immunosuppressive regimens coupled with glucose-lowering therapies including oral hypoglycemic agents and insulin. Since NODAT is a major cause of post-transplant morbidity and mortality, measures to reduce its incidence and impact have the potential to greatly improve overall transplant success.

Screening for cardiovascular disease before kidney transplantation.

Pre-kidney transplant cardiac screening has garnered particular attention from guideline committees as an approach to improving post-transplant success. Screening serves two major purposes: To more accurately inform transplant candidates of their risk for a cardiac event before and after the transplant, thereby informing decisions about proceeding with transplantation, and to guide pre-transplant management so that post-transplant success can be maximized. Transplant candidates on dialysis are more likely to be screened for coronary artery disease than those not being considered for transplantation. Thorough history and physical examination taking, resting electrocardiography and echocardiography, exercise stress testing, myocardial perfusion scintigraphy, dobutamine stress echocardiography, cardiac computed tomography, cardiac biomarker measurement, and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging all play contributory roles towards screening for cardiovascular disease before kidney transplantation. In this review, the importance of each of these screening procedures for both coronary artery disease and other forms of cardiac disease are discussed.