Living unrelated donor renal transplantation: a single center experience.

PURPOSE: Living, genetically unrelated donor renal transplantation (LURT) is being performed with increasing frequency. We evaluated our single center experience with LURT and compared this to a cohort of living related donor renal transplants (LRT) to evaluate the short-term success of LURT at our center. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We identified 99 consecutive patients who underwent LURT at our center and had at least 1 year of followup data. A control cohort of 99 patients who underwent LRT at our center matched for age, number of transplants and date of transplant was also identified. One-year graft and patient survival, and serum creatinine levels at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months were compared between the groups. Our data were compared with national and international data. RESULTS: At our center 1-year graft survival was 95% in the LURT and LRT cohorts. One-year LURT patient survival was 99% compared with 97% in the LRT group and the serum creatinine levels were not significantly different. CONCLUSIONS: Patients undergoing LURT at our center have excellent 1-year graft and patient survival compared with LRT performed at our center, and national and international LURT. Genetically unrelated kidney donors should continue to be used to expand the kidney donor pool.