Tailor-Made Live Kidney Donation

__Abstract__ This thesis describes several aspects of live kidney donation, such as surgical techniques, cost-effectivity, cosmetics en quality of life. Kidney transplantation offer several benefits when compared to dialysis. These benefits include better recipient and graft survival, better access to transplantation and pre-emptive transplantation. Eligibility criteria for live kidney donation have been extended in the last decade, leading to an increase in live donors and an increase in donors with mild comorbidities. This development requires continuous innovation evaluation of all aspects of live kidney donation, including selection, peroperative care, surgical techniques, outcome and long-term survival. There is high quality evidence suggesting that laparoscopic donor nephrectomy is to be preferred over open donor nephrectomy. This thesis describes two randomized controlled trials comparing hand-assisted retroperitoneoscopic donor nephrectomy with full laparoscopic donor nephrectomy. Furthermore, we assess the learning curves o

LOng-term follow-up after liVE kidney donation (LOVE) study: A longitudinal comparison study protocol

Background: The benefits of live donor kidney transplantation must be balanced against the potential harm to the donor. Well-designed prospective studies are needed to study the long-term consequences of kidney donation. Methods: The "LOng-term follow-up after liVE kidney donation" (LOVE) study is a single center longitudinal cohort study on long-term consequences after living kidney donation. We will study individuals who have donated a kidney from 1981 through 2010 in the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. In this time period, 1092 individuals donated a kidney and contact information is available for all individuals. Each participating donor will be matched (1:4) to non-donors derived from the population-based cohort studies of the Rotterdam Study and the Study of Health in Pomerania. Matching will be based on baseline age, gender, BMI, ethnicity, kidney function, blood pressure, pre-existing co-morbidity, smoking, the use of alcohol and highest education degree. Follow-up data is collected on kidney function, kidney-related comorbidity, mortality, quality of life and psychological outcomes in all participants. Discussion: This study will provide evidence on the long-term consequences of live kidney donation for the donor compared to matched non-donors and evaluate the current donor eligibility criteria. Trial registration: Dutch Trial Register NTR3795

Long-term prognosis after kidney donation: a propensity score matched comparison of living donors and non-donors from two population cohorts

Background: Live donor nephrectomy is a safe procedure. However, long-term donor prognosis is debated, necessitating high-quality studies. Methods: A follow-up study of 761 living kidney donors was conducted, who visited the outpatient clinic and were propensity score matched and compared to 1522 non-donors from population-based cohort studies. Primary outcome was kidney function. Secondary outcomes were BMI (kg/m2), incidences of hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular events, cardiovascular and overall mortality, and quality of life. Results: Median follow-up after donation was 8.0 years. Donors had an increase in serum creatinine of 26 μmol/l (95% CI 24–28), a decrease in eGFR of 27 ml/min/1.73 m2 (95% CI − 29 to − 26), and an eGFR decline of 32% (95% CI 30–33) as compared to non-donors. There was no difference in outcomes between the groups for ESRD, microalbuminuria, BMI, incidence of diabetes or cardiovascular events, and mortality. A lower risk of new-onset hypertension (OR 0.45, 95% CI 0.33–0.62) was found among donors. The EQ-5D health-related scores were higher among donors, whereas the SF-12 physical and mental component scores were lower. Conclusion: Loss of kidney mass after live donation does not translate into negative long-term outcomes in terms of morbidity and mortality compared to non-donors. Trial registration: Dutch Trial Register NTR3795