A study to evaluate the effect of ratio of donor kidney weight to recipient body weight on renal graft function

AIM AND OBJECTIVES: To study the effect of the ratio of donor kidney weight (dkw) to recipient body weight (rbw) on short and long term graft function in live donor kidney transplant patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was a prospective study of 79 live donor kidney transplant recipients. Patients were divided into three groups depending on the ratio of dkw in grams to rbw in kilograms. Serum creatinine in milligrams percent on the day of surgery, 7(th) day, 1 month, 6 months, 1 year, and 3 years after the surgery was recorded and their means compared. RESULTS: The comparison showed that the decrease in mean creatinine level was more in group three patients as compared with group 2 and one patients at 7 days (1.04,1.44 and 1.59 in group 3,2 and 1 respectively) and 30 days (1.12,1.36 and 1.45 in group 3,2 and 1 respectively), showing that higher dkw/rbw ratio is beneficial with respect to the early graft function. However this decrease was not statistically significant (P value –0.256 and 0.358 respectively on 7(th) and 30(th) day). Furthermore long-term function was not different among these three groups. CONCLUSION: The ratio of dkw to rbw does not have a significant effect on long-term graft function inspite of an early improvement in the function with increased dkw to rbw ratio.